Windy

I, like many others trying to fly to Chicago for this year’s GRAPH EXPO, had my Saturday morning flight cancelled due to an intentionally set fire at a nearby FAA radar facility. Most of the out-of-towners I spoke with were exhibitors, and some did note cases where their printer prospects and existing clients opted to skip GRAPH EXPO altogether after their flights were cancelled.

POETS HAVE long waxed lyrical about spring and its signifying of renewal in life, with birds joyfully singing amid blooming flowers on warm, sunny days, and pixies dropping magic dust everywhere. Well, it says here that a strong case can be made for the fall season. The days increasingly become intoxicatingly cool. Leaves change colors, turning the countryside into an artist’s canvas. And Green Bay football fans are reminded of the loss of Brett Favre to the New York Jets. Add one reason to recognize fall as “the season”—Graph Expo. You need to get away from the plant for a few days. It’s

CHICAGO—With a fresh snowfall on the ground, the Windy City provided a fitting seasonal backdrop for MAN Roland’s annual Editor’s Dinner. This time, the educational event and end-of-year celebration also served as a toast to Yves Rogivue, the press manufacturer’s then outgoing CEO, and Vince Lapinski, who took over the reins effective January 1. In his parting remarks Rogivue, who has since returned home to work for Muller Martini in Switzerland, challenged industry companies to make some noise and shake things up with new technology. “CIM (computer-integrated manufacturing) is the cornerstone upon which the future of this industry will be built,” Rogivue said. “Implementing CIM

CHICAGO—The Windy City is the place to be this month as thousands of printers from across the country converge upon the McCormick Place South complex October 15-18 for Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2006. Products and services for the graphic arts industry will encompass more than 400,000 square feet of space. Nearly 600 exhibitors have committed to the event, which reportedly will be the largest Graph Expo since 2000. Among the evening festivities is the annual Gold Ink Awards and Hall of Fame Gala, sponsored by North American Publishing (parent company of Printing Impressions), on October 16. Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame inductees Jim

CONVENTIONAL INDUSTRY wisdom seemed to favor large, publicly traded commercial printing enterprises. They operated with lower cost structures than their often smaller, privately held competitors, in part due to their ability to negotiate better prices for consumables like paper and ink, along with company healthcare and operating insurance premiums. They maintained deep pockets to fund continuous capital improvement expenditures for the most automated machinery and workflow platforms available, enabling higher job productivity and better employee utilization company-wide. They leveraged their ability to cross-sell products and services to a diverse customer base within a bevy of markets. They attracted the best talent; people sought them

CHICAGO—On the whole, organizers of PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 are calling the event a tremendous success. The finally tally is in, and the Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC) is reporting that about 62,000 people filled the McCormick Place complex for the exhibition held here in the Windy City last month. International attendance exceeded 7,200, an 11 percent increase from the previous PRINT show, and overall nearly 100 countries were represented. A total of 954 exhibitors—an increase of 61 over the 2001 show—filled about 750,000 square feet of booth space. More than 2,200 people attended one or more of the record 80-plus seminars.