The second installment of Printing Impressions' year-long CIP3 report profiles the activities of Scitex, most notably its InkPRO, and shares the prepress technology provider's take on full digital workflow integration. At Scitex America, Leigh Kimmelman believes that CIP3, in theory, is conceptually sound in its mission to automate production processes from prepress to postpress. As product marketing manager for output imaging systems, Kimmelman must track CIP3 activities and increase market awareness of the latest Scitex CIP3 technologies. Kimmelman has been one busy guy, as has his CIP3 European counterpart, Les Bovenlander, marketing manager/commercial printers, for Scitex. Bovenlander is instrumental in overseeing the implementation of Scitex's CIP3
Heidelberg
Be it expanding the performance of a conventional CTP site or capitalizing on thermal CTP, this sampling of digital prepress pioneers runs the gamut. As technologies for improving computer-to-plate performance continue to test the mettle of the most ingenious of today's commercial printers, the question raised seems more a statement of logic than a much-pondered, genuine inquiry. How good is CTP? Whether the direction is a conventional CTP route, with investments in a team of platesetting devices and digital proofers, or a thermal CTP focus capitalizing on the proliferation of thermal plates and growing volume of thermal platesetting devices, one factor seems clear: CTP
Across the graphic arts landscape, companies are making on-demand digital printing their vehicle of choice as they hit the road in search of a competitive edge and long-term success. Here, four diverse businesses share their travelers' tales. Digital Ink is the brainchild of former architect Jamie Wollens and Josh Weiss, co-founder of the Spectra chain of photo/digital processing labs, who anticipated the growing demand by New Yorkers for high-end prepress and rapid-turnaround printing services—and recognized the potential of digital technologies to fulfill those needs. In a few years, the operation—which started out with a single color copier for final output—has evolved into a
AT&T's decision to hire John R. Walter away from R.R. Donnelley & Sons left Wall Street analysts puzzled. Walter seasoned himself in the commercial printing industry, they noted, not the field of telecommunications. For that reason, the experts deemed AT&T's president unqualified. William L. Davis, Walter's successor at R.R. Donnelley, has faced similar scrutiny. When R.R. Donnelley appointed Davis chairman and CEO, industry insiders scratched their heads. Davis had no prior experience in the graphic arts. What could Emerson Electric's former senior executive vice president possibly do for North America's largest printer? The same thing he has done for other companies: pinpoint untapped potential
Whether the issue is tracking the status of 4,000 color images for a massive catalog or managing a vault of more than 100,000 images, text and fonts for a sophisticated prepress operation, the secret to success is securing an ingenious workflow. If one word could describe the prepress fervor of 1997—the motivating factor in the development of sophisticated software tools for expediting everything from imposition to job ticketing—that word would be workflow. Workflow, workflow, workflow—that was the single most effective, overused and yet understated buzz- word for 1997. Large commercial printers were implementing extensive technological investments to enhance prepress to postpress workflow, midsize commercial
