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Commercial printers, trade shops, publishers and industry suppliers are banding together under the Graphics Century Project (GCP) umbrella to share critical information and find practical solutions concerning common Y2K problems. BY ERIK CAGLE (Editor's Note: This is the second in a year-long series of articles examining the Y2K problem as it applies to the commercial printing industry. This installment takes a look at the Graphics Century Project, an association-led effort to exchange knowledge.) Pat Maher will be one of the first to admit that the commercial printing industry falls short in the

Digital asset management (DAM) solutions are plentiful, ranging wildly in everything from robustness to flexibility to price. But which offering is right for you? That may be the million-dollar question. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The search is on. There are at least 75 DAM technology providers (not a slight on these fine technologists, just a widely tossed about, clever acronym for digital asset management) that are more than happy to visit you, send you materials, access your digital archiving weaknesses, advise you on ways to retool the content management at your operation and probably wash your car if you ask them nice enough. For

ROCHESTER, NY—In a strategic move to strengthen its position within data processing, variable information printing and lettershop services, commercial offset printer Cohber Press, located here, has acquired Scanforms, also of Rochester. Previously owned by Webcraft, Scanforms provides one- and two-color variable information printing and data processing. As a result of the acquisition, 25 of Scanforms' programmers and management personnel are already in place within the Cohber Press staff, bringing its total number to 160. Management from Scanforms is now reporting to Bill Bachman, vice president of Digital Print Services. As a result of the two companies joining forces, Cohber Press is benefiting through Scanforms'

Daniels Printing communicates—and flourishes—without limits, generation after generation. By Erik Cagle FORGET ABOUT Fenway Park and the Red Sox, the Patriots and Cheers, or even the Kennedy clan, for that matter. No, to find a truly enduring institution in the state of Massachusetts, one needs to look at one of its most successful, long-running businesses. Long before anyone had ever heard of the Babe Ruth Curse or Frasier Crane, there was Abraham Daniels. And while community staples come and go, the name Daniels (three generations after Abraham) and its corresponding reputation remain a fixture in commercial printing. Armed with a new logo, Daniels

Digital front ends are growing in flexibility and functionality, allowing for greater output opportunities, especially in areas of digital color proofing. Are DFEs where they need to be—technically speaking? Most are headed in the right direction, thanks to the promise of PDF. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The success of any print production process—whether it is direct-to-film, direct-to-plate or imposition proofing—relies fully on the competence of the digital front end in question. Digital front ends, or DFEs—rich in providing controls for color management, PDF support and a host of in-RIP capabilities, including trapping—are taking the front end to higher levels of sophistication. What is a

As computer-to-plate grows in popularity and application, prepress officials and technology providers trade outlooks on CTP's hottest issues—especially the true commercial availability of thermal plates. What's better—thermal or non-thermal? Warning: They tell it like it is. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Is the jury still out on the long-term merits of thermal imaging—and the consumables considerations any reasonable prepress director must labor over when deliberating which output device to recommend, thermal or non-thermal? For one, Maureen Richards, prepress technical director at United Lithograph, now a Mail-Well company, has her thermal reservations. "The current thermal technology is not 'utopia,' but I am perhaps biased by

San Mateo, CA—High-end sheetfed printing specialists BOFORS, based here, announces it has been joined by Kohnke Printing, of San Francisco. The agreement gives BOFORS control of Kohnke Printing's accounts. Dave Kohnke, president of the Bay Area printer, liquidated its assets. Kohnke wanted to be linked with a printer the quality of employee-owned BOFORS, which generated revenues in excess of $18 million in 1998. "The 90 employee-owners at BOFORS take pride in their company and their work," Kohnke remarks. "We are proud to be associated with the BOFORS name." BOFORS President Vit Eckersdorf feels Kohnke, a general commercial printer, is a perfect fit with

In an age of industry consolidation, LPT—a family-owned commercial printer—is bracing for the competitive, digital challenges of printing in the year 2000. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Hello January 1999! Quite an interesting time for a privately held commercial printer. How does a family-owned operation position itself for growth and stability in a time of massive industry consolidation? What expansion strategies can aid a traditional offset and digital printer to compete in an increasingly more on-demand, service-oriented environment? How are mid-size commercial printers bracing for the technological challenges of printing in the year 2000? The L.P. Thebault Group of Companies (LPT), of Parsippany, NJ, is ready to answer those

Gigabit ethernet is fast becoming an industry standard. Do you know what it is? More important, do you know what it can do to bolster the networking power of your most demanding RIP workstation or workgroup server? Better find out—your competition may already be capitalizing on this ethernet craze. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Centralized content. As more and more digitally minded commercial printers exploit the merits of faster desktop publishing workstations and higher performance servers, fast ethernet functionality is becoming the standard connection. But, for truly high performance networking, gigabit ethernet is making some serious strides. What is gigabit ethernet? Put simply, "gigabit" is

Technological strides in areas of digital prepress, plus new moves in digital color printing, will push for strong attention this year. Are commercial printers ready for the next wave of techno-hype? Time will tell. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Tired of hearing about thermal CTP? Bored with PDF discussions? Less than enthralled with the latest digital color proofing claims? Too bad—the next wave of PDF functionality, digital front-end output flexibility, thermal CTP strides and competitive advancements in digital color proofing devices are poised to make 1999 another hot year for digital developments. Still, hearing the tech talk isn't always easy, as many a prepress director