Sept. 26, 2005—While the traffic volume at Print 05 and Converting 05 brought some disappointment, you would be hard-pressed to find vendors upset with the quality of the visitors. Those who attended were looking to buy, with many manufacturers closing deals on the show floor, and many more expecting to close deals shortly after the show concluded.

Visitors had a myriad of technologies and innovations to choose from. This year's Must-See-Ems, which are chosen by a panel of 15 industry experts in a closed ballot, demonstrated the depth and breadth of products on display, ranging from software to presses to variable-data technology, and everything in between. In addition, the Worth-a-Look category—products that were determined to be innovative, but that didn't necessarily apply to a broad range of the industry—demonstarted that there are some new and exciting developments no matter what niche a commercial printer might choose to persue. For a full list of companies and products who received this honor, which included Agfa, Eastman Kodak, Heidelberg, EFI, and more, visit http://print05.gasc.org/mustseeems2005.cfm.

A Little Something Different
In addition to new products and technologies, there were a few unusual exhibits for attendees to check out.

Adding an artistic element to the show was an exhibit sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution Libraries on the history and importance of book illustration. "Picturing Words: The Power of Book Illustration," was staffed by personnel from the Smithsonian Libraries along with exhibit curators. Local artists demonstrated different types of illustration, as well as images from books in the Libraries' collection, including children's alphabet books.

The exhibit was supported by NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies and a number of NPES members, including Agfa, Automated Graphic Imaging, Brandtjen & Kluge, D&K Group, Expo Trust Marketing Group, Flint Ink, Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC), Heidelberg, MAN Roland, PIA/GATF, and UEI Group.

"Print 05 and Converting 05 is the ideal place to showcase this exhibition and the power and beauty of print, with its opportunity to showcase local artists as well," said Regis J. Delmontagne, president of NPES and the GASC.

Also this year, Wausau Paper, Brandtjen & Kluge Inc., UEI Group, Infinity Foils Inc., and Duplo USA teamed up to produce writing/activity booklets at the show.

The companies created the exhibit as a way to showcase something useful with the enormous amounts of paper stock used at the show. The firms finished 20,000 pieces, which were donated to several Montessori Schools in Minnesota.

An art competition was held by the schools, with the winning drawing used to make a hand-engraved foil stamping and embossing die by UEI Group. This die, with foil provided by Infinity Foils, was used to create the covers at Brandtjen & Kluge on an EHD Series press. Each day, the finished covers, along with the filler pages, went to the Duplo booth for printing and binding on a DP 460H Air Feed Digital Printing System. The Duplo System 5000 collated, saddle stitched, folded, and trimmed the booklets.

Wausau Paper donated Royal Complements 100-lb. stock for the covers and its newest line of opaque paper, Exact Ice, for inside pages. The final product was an 8½x11" booklet with 24 pages that the schools will use to teach students writing skills.

Go Army
The U.S. Army got into the act as well, with a booth showcasing its mobile printing technology. The system is used to print various psychological operations leaflets, flyers, and communiqués for foreign audiences in the field. It includes a high-speed Risograph Duplicator, a PC graphics platform using Corel Draw, a high-quality color scanner, a color LaserJet printer, and cutting equipment, all slightly modified to meet U.S. Army specifications, including shock mounting for portability.

"We're particularly pleased to host this special display at this year's international event, as it sheds some light on an area of military service that doesn't get a lot of attention in the media," noted Mr. Delmontagne.

Celebrating a Centennial
Pitman Co. celebrated its 100th birthday at Print 05. Founded in 1906, it remains a family firm. Chairman and CEO Peter Schmidt, grandson of founder Harold Schmidt, gave credit and thanks to the employees who made it happen.

To continue to grow with and better serve its customers, Joe Demharter, president, announced a new Wide Format Graphics division, to be led by 25-year Pitman veteran Barry Budwit, who previously served as the manager of the Boston branch.

The new division will feature products from a range of manufacturers, including 3M, Avery Dennison, UltraFlexx, Epson, HP, Encad?A Kodak Company, Agfa, MacDermid Colorspan, Dupont, Onyx Graphics, and Esko-Graphics. Products including media, printers, and peripherals will be sold.

A Standard Look
The Ghent PDF workgroup took opportunity at the show to introduce its new specifications for the use of PDF/X-1a:2001 Plus and PDF/X-3:2002 Plus documents. The new version has been updated to accomodate new software releases, such as Adobe's Creative Suite 2 and Acrobat 7. In addition, it allows for non-CMYK workflows.

The new specifications and setting files can be downloaded at www.ghentpdfworkgroup.org, and via the Web sites of various local graphic arts organizations and workgroup vendor members.

There was quite a bit of talk about the future of the industry and where the technology is headed. Addressing that, Andrew Paparozzi, chief economist for the National Association for Printing Leadership's Printing Economic Research Center, gave a seminar titled "The Outlook for Commercial Printing." During the seminar, he looked at the health of the economy in general, and how that affects the printing industry, as well as what attendees can expect in the near future.

Mr. Paparozzi noted that sales were a bit flat for the first half of 2005, only growing at 1.9 percent, compared to growth of 3.9 percent in the first half of 2004. At the same time, however, prices are slowly starting to firm. In 2004, prices that printers charged were flat, and in 2003, prices fell by 3.7 percent. However, for the first half of 2005, printers were reporting a 0.8 percent increase in prices. According to Mr. Paparozzi, this is a good indication that things are starting to even out.

While there will continue to be some consolidation, and predictions have the total number of print shops continuing to decline over the next few years, those shops willing to adapt and change with the times will most likely survive and thrive in a changing world. Stay tuned next week for a look at some of the new products and technologies introduced at Print 05 that can help your shop do just that.