ATLANTA—The U.S. paper and forest products industry buys and sells more than $400 billion worth of products annually. Some estimates are that at least a third of these transactions will be conducted online within the next few years. With that in mind, Georgia- Pacific Corp., International Paper and Weyerhaeuser Co. have committed funding of $51 million to establish a global business-to-business electronic marketplace for forest products. The entity will be known as ForestExpress. Four other forest products companies—Boise Cascade, Louisiana-Pacific, Mead and Willamette—are reportedly considering taking part, as well. Officials say the goal is to create a common platform to simplify and accelerate
Software - Web-to-print
R.R. Donnelley wades into the world of e-commerce BY CAROLINE MILLER R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD) is launching a new e-commerce venture this month at Graph Expo and Converting Expo in Chicago. Digeno.com is an R.R. Donnelley-funded network that provides an e-procurement solution for the sheetfed printing industry. This portal is a comprehensive, printer-led Internet solution for buying and selling print-related products and services in the regional commercial printing markets, according to Digeno President Terry Tevis. As Tevis gets ready to introduce Digeno to the graphic arts industry, Printing Impressions wants to know how he views the direction of e-commerce in the printing industry,
A spinoff of L.P. Thebault, Cirqit.com is focusing on Fortune 2000 accounts. BY ERIK CAGLE There is no denying that Cirqit.com is a product of the cyberspace times. However, there is a method to the madness of "dotcomology" for this son of a printer—not just a move to cyberspace for the sake of being technologically chic. Formed in July 1999, Cirqit.com marked the beginning of what would ultimately become a web, if you will, of alliances, services and supply chains bound together by a single mantra: offering the ultimate in end-to-end solutions. In essence, Cirqit.com—an application service provider (ASP)—stands shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the
BY HOWARD FENTON Anyone familiar with Publishers Press will not be surprised that it was the first company to express interest in, pursue and pioneer entrance into the GATF/Apple ColorSync Registry. The registry outlines tolerances for acceptable quality control specifications for the implementation of color management technology, as specified by the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF). Publishers Press is a family owned company originally created in 1866, now operating under the fifth generation of the Simon family. Printing giant Frank E. Simon ran the company from 1946 to 1990 and is responsible for redirecting the company to its niche of short-run publications. At
Perhaps the most incredible thing about the printing industry is that it actually works. Most of the time, anyway. Think about it: You have a sophisticated manufacturing process driven by people hired specifically for their creative expertise. Adding to the confusion, the disparate nature of this service industry makes it virtually impossible to standardize procedures—which is why workflow is such a vague term. In many cases, designers, ad agencies, publishers, prepress trade shops and printers are all separate business entities; at a minimum, there are two parties: content creator and prepress/printer. And, just for fun, there's the subjective nature of the printed product itself adding
The Job Definition Format (JDF) has added a new vigor to the CIP3 movement—changing the consortium's name to CIP4, and forecasting a new era for CIM in an e-commerce and more automated printing industry. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO When the CIP3 consortium was formed in 1995, the intent was clear: develop standards that would facilitate a completely automated and integrated printing process, from prepress to pressroom to postpress. Hence the name, CIP3—the International Cooperation for Integration of Prepress, Press and Postpress. Easy enough. The mission was embraced by dozens of technology providers. Together, companies from Heidelberg to Adobe, MAN Roland to Agfa, formulated a new format, known
Increasingly, printers are using e-commerce to streamline their businesses. BY CAROLINE MILLER Efficiency is the newest buzzword in the Internet realm. In the world of commercial printing, everybody needs it yesterday. And with deadlines shrinking by the minute, efficiency can be a printer's best friend or worst enemy. So where does a printer turn when he wants to improve his business efficiency and distinguish himself from his competitors? The World Wide Web. "The Internet is just an even more powerful tool that will provide cleaner data and better data mining capabilities. People have always wanted to manage things in one bucket; I think that
Execs from Dome Printing, Lake County Press, PlanetPrint.com, Graphic Enterprises and R.R. Donnelley & Sons sit down with Printing Impressions to map out the state of color management, PDF, remote proofing, thermal plates and digital asset management. BY CAROLINE MILLER The curtain has closed on DRUPA 2000 and the fairground lights have faded, returning Dusseldorf, Germany, to normal. The grand dame of international shows is over for another four years. But while the steady hum of new presses that once filled the air in Dusseldorf has gone silent, the buzz surrounding much of the technology has increased. That DRUPA buzz will turn
The role of printer is today the role of content manager. Print buyers are turning to printers for more than one-stop services of an ink-and-paper nature. How do your services measure up? BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Do your customers have instant access to their files over the Web? As soon as you have scanned or copied their images onto your server, are they available through a secure Website for your clients? Do your clients come to you for scanning, image distribution—and printing? What's more, do you want to do all of this stuff? Unfortunately, you may not have a choice. Today's truly progressive commercial
Streamlining prepress production with PDF optimizes cross-platform functionality and consistent, predictable output. While some commercial printers are content to watch PDF's development, others are embracing the still-emerging technology full force. Which approach is yours? BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO This is the second installment in Printing Impressions' ongoing look at PDF workflows in practice at a variety of commercial printing and digital prepress operations. Part I appeared in the June issue. PDF FILES are independent of platform or operating system. PDF files are small and self-contained, with fonts, images and graphics embedded within each PDF document, streamlining electronic transmission and preflighting. PDF files offer