Taking Out the Touchpoints: Systems Integration Is Key at Graph Expo

The printing industry is transforming itself, and so are the Print and Graph Expo shows, its premier trade expositions. Visitors to Graph Expo 2010 will see hardware in abundance, but they’ll also encounter a trend that’s been growing in importance at the Chicago shows in recent years: an emphasis on connectivity and integration. Nowhere at Graph Expo will this theme be more thoroughly explored than at the xpedx booth, #3200 in the South Hall of McCormick Place.

Dennis Killion, xpedx director of marketing, says that the technologies critical for printers to investigate at Graph Expo fall into two general categories: systems and equipment that reduce costs and increase efficiency; and those that help to drive top-line revenue. Common to both strategies, he says, is integration: linking processes “to take the touches out” of print production in ways that maximize throughput as they minimize cost and waste.

The Ryobi 920 Series: Playing to Win in Eight-Up and Half-Size

Most printers would agree that the most expensive press they ever bought was the one they underutilized. That’s why 40" press owners who run 24" x 36" sheets in the majority of their eight-up jobs probably shouldn’t be thinking about adding more 40" capacity.

“With a Ryobi 920 series press, printers get a full-size machine that can run a full-size sheet at significantly lower total cost of ownership than would be possible with 40" equipment,” says Don Coggswell, national sales manager, xpedx.

In the case of eight-up printing, it’s not a game of adding inches but of skillfully taking them away. It's true that most printers probably associate “full-size” and “eight-up” with 40" offset equipment, the kind that predominates in this market.

“But your best, most productive player is not necessarily your biggest player,” says Coggswell. The 36" format of the Ryobi 920 series presses—optimal for printing on 24" x 36" sheets of paper—gives them clear advantages over 40" platforms in a surprisingly large share of the full-size jobs that printers are doing.

New Kodak Plate Sets Benchmark for Productivity

There is always room for improvement in any production process, but in platemaking, gains in efficiency have become harder to achieve. In a sense, today’s high-speed, high-precision CtP devices, digitally controlled platemaking workflows, and improved plate materials have worked too well—when they’re correctly utilized, they can make the platesetting routine appear to be as good as it’s ever going to get.

All of that changes with the introduction of Kodak’s Trillian SP Thermal Plate, available from xpedx. Kodak bills the product as a game-changer in terms of platemaking productivity, and it’s no exaggeration. By switching to the Kodak Trillian SP Thermal Plate, printers can immediately ramp up their plate output with virtually no additional effort or investment. Now, the improvement that once seemed impossible to eke out can be there for the taking in the prepress department every day.