CUNNINGHAM GRAPHICS INT'L -- A Digital Prospectus

Until now, the organization's digital operations have been almost entirely Xerox houses, but not by specific intent, Hood reveals. "Xerox technology offers the quality and raw speed we need for cut-sheet printing," he explains. "Another big reason we've added so much of this equipment is because the DocuTech/DocuPrint engine gives us the flexibility to handle a wide range of stocks. This is a commercial printing site, so we get requests for a lot of different papers."

In addition to the model 6180s noted earlier, CGI's other monochrome Xerox devices include a number of DocuPrint 180s, a DocuPrint 4635, DocuPrint 65 and Document Centre 265. On the color side, it operates several Xerox DocuColor 2060s and 12s, as well as a DocuColor 100.

Currently, the odd-man-out piece of digital equipment at the headquarters facility is an Océ DemandStream 8090 web press. That's expected to change sooner rather than later, since the organization is actively evaluating its options in what Hood characterizes as the high-volume digital color system product category. The plan calls for this new system to be installed in the offset pressroom, rather than the separate department where the other digital presses are located.

"Our existing digital equipment is all in one enclosed area so we can control the operating environment and because some of our digital projects require heightened security," Hood explains. "For the new system, we are going to create a small area in the pressroom where we can control the environment, at least to some extent. I'm particularly concerned about paper dust."

Part of the intent behind this move is to create the right operating culture for such a machine, Hood says. "We want somebody with an offset background manning a high-volume digital color press to maximize production." Even though Hood himself came from an offset production background, all of CGI's current digital press operators are specialists in that arena.