Software - Web-to-print

Getting on the PDF Transit Bandwagon -- Waldman
May 1, 2002

Dateline—Monday, March 25, 2002, VUE/Point conference, Washington, DC. I always wanted to do that; it sounds so important. I feel like a crack AP reporter breaking a red-hot story. You probably think the time I spent attending the VUE/Point conference went to my head. Perhaps, but you have to admit it added a little drama to this month's column. And adding some drama was my intention because I believe that Adobe's PDF Transit is going to be a key component of tomorrow's print shop, and tomorrow's print shop is already here. So, for me, this was a must write and, for all of you,

New Print Campaign Is Fatally Flawed -- McIlroy
April 1, 2002

GENTLE READER: I can only say that if you're getting sick and tired of my naysaying of the printing industry, think about how I feel. I look back on my Printing Impressions columns over the last few years, and I realize that you could easily get the idea that there's nothing I'd like better than to see the printing industry disappear. I keep harping about the industry's failure to get with the program: to recognize the changes that are taking place in the way that media is proffered in our society. I keep harping about the economic challenges that the printing industry faces and, I

COLOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -- Color Me Successful
April 1, 2002

BY CAROLINE MILLER The decision to implement a color management system was a no-brainer for Multi-Visual Products (MVP) owner Craig Graves. The Murrieta, CA-based company, which prints high-quality trading cards for youth sports leagues around the nation—as well as a line of magazine covers, calendars, enhanced team prints, magnets, stickers and mouse pads—had a color problem. When the company began eight years ago, MVP had a code blue calibration process, including a scanner and an output device. The company had to tweak the output devices as best it could, but there were many colors that didn't match the original. "Our reject rates were very high,"

WORKFLOW INTEGRATION -- Getting Connected
January 1, 2002

BY MARK SMITH Since the early days of desktop publishing, the term "workflow" for the most part has been associated with the processing of files within prepress operations. The focus of the discussion—and product development—now is being extended forward to the customer's operation and back through the pressroom and into the bindery. Prepress and printing operations have to navigate a web of sometimes-sensitive issues when they touch on their customers' internal processes. Concerns about control, internal politics and resistance to change can present barriers to a better way of doing things. Tanagraphics Inc. in New York City strives to deepen its relationship with clients by being a

SELLING ON THE WEB -- Internet Enabled
September 1, 2001

BY CAROLINE MILLER If you want it done right, then you need to do it yourself. In light of the recent demise of many ASP e-procurement solutions in the graphic arts industry, that old adage seems to be gaining more and more popularity. And one printer that has put that "can-do" attitude to the test is Lynn Johnson, of Dallas-based Buchanan Visual Communications. Two years ago, Johnson—Buchanan's vice president of sales and a former systems analyst—saw the need to offer clients an online presence. The $26 million sheetfed, web and digital printer wanted to revamp how it conducted business with its clients, recalls Johnson. "We're very committed

DISTRIBUTORS IN TRANSITION -- E-enabled Dealers
September 1, 2001

BY CAROLINE MILLER When Imaging Supplies & Equipment e-enabled their Website six months ago, they didn't see themselves as trailblazers. Instead, the $34 million Fuji dealer, based just outside of Los Angeles in Lindwood, CA, thought of it merely as a good business strategy, reports Imaging Supplies & Equipment President Chuck Bertoni. "We saw it as good business sense. We wanted to put a tool together for our current accounts and to make it easier for them to do business with us," he says. Even so, according to North American Graphic Arts Suppliers Association (NAGASA) President Greg DuRoss, companies like Imaging Supplies &

PREFLIGHTING -- Getting a Fix on Files
September 1, 2001

BY MARK SMITH Like digital cockroaches, file errors have threatened to infest electronic prepress operations since the first job was sent to a RIP. Problems caused by missing fonts or photos, RGB colors, improper transformations, etc., persist despite the industry's best efforts to eradicate them. What makes the situation so frustrating is that there's a ready solution for eliminating these bugs—just get clients to prepare their print files correctly—and processing bottlenecks will become extinct. Given that the digital revolution is more than a decade old and receiving bad files still is a top industry complaint, that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon.

LAMINATING EQUIPMENT -- Sealing the Deal
August 1, 2001

BY CHRIS BAUER With PRINT 01 just around the corner, and thousands of printers ready to storm the show floor in Chicago, laminating equipment suppliers are confidently standing ready to seal a deal and send many show attendees back to their shops with new laminating gear in tow. "Most of our customers are looking for compact, automatic machines with standard equipment (including) feeder, calender, separator and collection table, easy installation and low prices," contends Dr. Cesare Sassi of American Binding Co. "A few are also looking for high-speed machines with savings on working time and on raw material costs. Some customers are asking

SYSTEM INTEGRATION -- Process Ins and Outs
August 1, 2001

BY MARK SMITH The basic concept has been given many names. Digital Smart Factory. CIM—computer integrated manufacturing. CIP4—International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress. Or, you can simply call it "process automation." Welcome to system integration in the digital age. The terminology alone is confusing enough. System integration used to be a fairly straightforward problem in the graphic arts arena, even if productive solutions were sometimes hard to come by. The challenge was to get different pieces of electronic prepress equipment to communicate and work together efficiently in a unified workflow. While the digital revolution was redefining the front

DIGITAL CAMERAS -- Photo Opp?
June 1, 2001

BY MARK SMITH Digital photography spans two worlds, requiring users to meld near equal parts of artistic flare and technological prowess. This dichotomy has impacted the adoption of the process almost as greatly as advances in the technology. As a result, the business picture has been complicated. When the first digital cameras were introduced, there was a school of thought that said these devices were most akin to scanners and should be approached as such. The logical conclusion was that digital photography should be a prepress process. However, the experiences of early adopters soon revealed that the photographer's "eye" still was required to get