Japs-Olson

Following is a special report from Day 2 of the 2009 Offset and Beyond Conference. Printing Industries of America's Executive Team is reporting from Caesars Palace, where the Conference continues today. What do you do? If your answer is "I am just a printer", you are not likely to be in business much longer in these turbulent times. Tuesday's general session opened with Making the Transformation from Printer to Marketing Communications Provider.

PARAMUS, NJ—9/30/2008—Joan B. Davidson, group president of The Sheridan Group, headquartered in Hunt Valley, Md., has been named the 48th Walter E. Soderstrom Award recipient. Davidson will receive the award, one of the graphic communications industry’s most prestigious honors, at the annual NAPL Soderstrom Society Dinner on Monday, Oct. 27, 2008, at the Mid-America Club in Chicago. NAPL (www.napl.org), the industry’s association for excellence in the printing and graphic communications industry, will also induct 13 industry leaders into the Walter E. Soderstrom Society at the event.

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) is to return on investment (ROI) what exercise is to weight loss. In the latter scenario, the early stages of a new workout program can be quite transforming. It only takes a couple of days at the gym to notice a difference in the way you feel—the air seems fresher, the body feels invigorated and experiences more energy in the beginning and the end of the day. Even after just one week of intense weight lifting and cardiovascular training, one's body can feel like a million bucks. But after one week, don't step on a scale.

BY MARK SMITH Bindery automation has long since ceased to be an oxymoron, but the back end of the process hasn't seen quite the same digital revolution as in the prepress and press arenas. Touch pads and automated setup features have become commonplace, but operators are not sitting around looking at computer screens all day, as one trade binder owner put it. The fundamental nature of the work hasn't changed all that dramatically. Faster makereadies and more efficient material handling have been the primary focus of efforts to automate binding and finishing operations. Cutting and folding probably are the two areas that have

Once upon a time, electronic desktop publishing seemed miraculous. No more awkward cameras, no more messy paste-ups. Put all of your work on a disk, then overnight a package to the printer. Simple. Nowadays, electronic desktop is trite. Everybody's got it. Everybody's using it. And the ability to accept a disk delivered overnight doesn't impress print buyers who want their jobs yesterday. Today's removable media, such as SyQuests and Zips, may boast high memory capacity, but you can't ship them any faster than floppies. If you want quicker delivery, you need the speed of digital file transfer. Digital file transfer performs new miracles in