GRAPH EXPO Demonstrates JDF’s Potential for Profit Now With Special New Show Floor Feature
RESTON, VA—Demonstrating to printers JDF’s potential for profit, GRAPH EXPO® 2008 will showcase for the first time ever a JDF workflow live on the show floor this October 26 - 29, 2008, in Chicago’s McCormick Place South. Involving several vendors and the CIP4 Organization, JDF Works Print Shop Live! is designed to show attendees exactly what can be accomplished with technologies that are already available today.
Mirroring conditions in a real print shop, JDF Works Print Shop Live! will produce an application from design to completion, using equipment from many different vendors. A greeting area will be set up so attendees clearly see where the work starts, and a team of experts will explain each step of the production process. GRAPH EXPO visitors will follow a job through production, from order management and scheduling, to prepress, imposition and printing, and all the way through to the finishing and output of the final printed piece. Participating vendors include iBrams with FOLDRite, Avanti, Kodak, Creo, Xerox, Horizon and Duplo, among others. All equipment in JDF Works Print Shop Live! will be integrated via JDF data interchange.
“Graphic communications professionals have heard talk of JDF, but given the myriad of vendors’ equipment most printers have in their plants, many naturally remain skeptical of JDF’s possibilities,” said Ralph Nappi, president of the Graphic Arts Show Company(GASC®). “JDF Works Print Shop Live! demystifies the entire process for attendees and, as in a real print shop, uses equipment from multiple vendors to produce a sample job from design to completion. It will really demonstrate for printers how JDF can minimize processing time and maximize throughput-all while requiring minimal labor.”
JDF Works Print Shop Live! is not a showcase of future technology, but rather a demonstration of how to be more effective with capabilities that already exist. As such, it offers inspiration for printers seeking ways to maximize profits in a difficult economy. “Printers are looking for ways compete in an increasingly tight market, but the options can be confusing. Do you seek new markets with Web-to-print and digital printing, focus on streamlining administrative operations, cut labor costs or increase capacity by automating? JDF Works Print Shop Live! shows how everything can come together, providing a business model that is more efficient than any one option alone,” explained James E. Harvey, executive director of the CIP4 Organization.
GRAPH EXPO’s JDF Works Print Shop Live! is just one of several new special features planned for the show. As the largest graphic communications exhibition and conference in the Western Hemisphere, this year’s GRAPH EXPO will feature more than 600 exhibitors showcasing a full range of graphic communications equipment across 450,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. Other show highlights include exhibits featuring the latest trends in digital inkjet printing, the XPS Land Showcase, the new Future Print featuring RFID and Printed Electronics, and a new Print Buyers Forum designed specifically for today’s advanced buyer. In addition, the 13th edition of the EXECUTIVE OUTLOOK® Conference, held on October 25, the day before GRAPH EXPO opens, will allow graphic communications professionals to learn about the technology, markets, economics and critical issues affecting the industry today and into the future.
Complete information about JDF Works Print Shop Live! and registration for GRAPH EXPO 2008 are available online at: www.graphexpo.com .
About Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC)
GASC is owned by the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies® (NPES®), and the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF). GASC is located at 1899 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 20191 USA, telephone: 703/264-7200, fax: 703/620-9187, e-mail: info@gasc.org.
