The new Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro software will be integrated into Adobe Creative Suite 3.3 Design Premium and Standard editions, Creative Suite 3.3 Web Premium and Creative Suite 3.3 Master Collection editions. Adobe Creative Suite 3.3 Design Premium also includes Adobe Fireworks CS3 as a special offer for designers who need to rapidly prototype and generate Websites. This powerful upgrade software gives designers, web professionals and printers, new ways to create and deliver engaging content. “Adobe continues to expand its leadership and innovation in PDF to serve designers, developers and content providers,” says John Loiacono, Senior V.P. of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “With Acrobat 9 we’ve combined the power, reach and richness of two ubiquitous technologies, Adobe Flash and PDF, to empower customers to create engaging experiences, prepare high-quality PDF files and collaborate more efficiently.”

At drupa 2008, Epson, together with its industry partners, are showcasing new technologies that will enable the company to move into new, vertical sectors while maintaining its leading position in the traditional large-format printer market. A range of new Epson solutions will show how a combination of quality, flexibility, reliability and productivity can deliver high-quality inkjet digital print solutions that address the challenges of the printing industry. Epson’s award-winning development of UltraChrome ink and its knowledge and expertise in its core Micro Piezo print head technology have brought inkjet to such a high standard that it can now be used for a variety of commercial production-oriented printing applications – print-for-pay (PfP), label printing, print-on-demand, exhibition graphics, signage and photo and fine-art reproduction. At-show demonstrations will reflect the high-quality output and fast turnaround that’s required in today’s marketplace. “drupa 2008 is already being talked about as the show that will see inkjet become mainstream. Visitors to the Epson stand will see for themselves how Micro Piezo inkjet technology has developed to such a high standard that we’re now able to broaden its use into commercial, production-oriented applications,” says Duncan Ferguson, Director of Pro-Graphics and New Business Development at Epson Europe. At the show, Epson is launching the Stylus Pro GS6000, a 64” large-format printer with an 8-colour ink set, offering the widest colour gamut to date in a printer designed for both indoor and outdoor applications. The new ink set produces high-quality, durable prints enabling printers to extend their business into higher quality applications such as exhibition graphics and art reproduction. Integral to its output is the new Epson UltraChrome GS, an 8-colour eco-solvent type ink set with an exceptionally wide colour palette that also addresses commonly used spot colours and is available in efficient 950ml cartridges. For the environment and operators, Epson UltraChrome GS ink doesn’t spread harmful VOCs. This makes the Stylus Pro GS6000 both environmentally and user friendly. Additional ventilation isn’t required and the need for time-consuming daily operator maintenance is reduced, thus increasing available production time. The GS6000 has a resolution up to 1,440 x 1,440 dpi and a 3.7 picolitre droplet. Production speeds of up to 25m2/hour deliver fast-drying, scratch-resistant prints that are water and UV resistant for up to 1.5 years without lamination, but can be laminated for applications exposed to intensive mechanical stress or abrasion.

More and more women are getting involved in the printing industry around the world – whether in executive, production or sales positions. With this in mind, Heidelberg’s Print Media Academy (PMA) has once again taken the lead and hosted the first international network meeting “Women in Print” on June 5, 2008. More than 90 participants enjoyed the informative lectures and networked with other female executives. As well, all participants were registered in a defined domain on the internet platform XING, thanks to the worldwide Print Media Academy’s network. The next “Women in Print” meeting is set for Japan next year.

Reflecting Xerox’s sweeping, ongoing environmental sustainability efforts, the company’s booth at drupa this year was designed and constructed in a sustainable way. The 3,500-square-meter, two-storey stand was built almost exclusively from recycled or reusable materials. It was assembled using reused steel formed beams, and the sheet materials in the walls and displays used recycled board and sustainable forest timber. Energy-efficient overhead lighting and video screens use 40% less power and generate 60% less heat than many conventional alternatives. As well, several strategies are being presented to help Xerox customers go green, including products, services and applications that are eco-friendly as well as new educational materials and training sessions on sustainability. “We’re taking a 3-pronged approach to sustainability,” says Tom Wetjen, V.P., Worldwide Graphic Communications Industry, Xerox Corp. “First, reducing our own environmental footprint throughout our operations has formed the basis of the way we have run the company for decades. Second, we work with suppliers to help reduce their environmental footprint. And third, the most compelling area is supporting our graphic communications customers to respond to their customers’ growing demand for green printing by introducing and educating print providers to digital opportunities.” Eco-friendly products Many of the Xerox products on display at drupa are environmentally sustainable. For example: ‚Ä¢ More than 80% by weight of the waste generated by the Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Production Press, including consumables (dry ink), can be reused or recycled. More than 97% of the components in the iGen3 press have been designed to support multiple lifetimes and minimize waste. ‚Ä¢ EA Toner is the dry ink used by many Xerox printers, and it uses an estimated 25% less manufacturing energy per pound of toner produced than conventional toner. ‚Ä¢ Xerox offers paper with FSC Certification, assuring it comes from forests with sustainable management practices. In addition, Xerox is showcasing 50 print applications using digital and print-on-demand technologies that reduce paper usage and storage, eliminate waste and avoid chemicals associated with traditional printing. On display are books and manuals, collateral, transpromo pieces and direct marketing applications. Many other Xerox products featured at its booth offer green qualities such as two-sided printing to reduce paper consumption and the use of non-toxic toners.

PANTONE Inc. has announced the PANTONE GoeGuide and PANTONE GoeSticks on uncoated stock, the first product line extensions to its recently launched PANTONE Goe System. Presented in fan-guide format, the PANTONE GoeGuide uncoated is the primary tool for selecting and communicating the 2,058 PANTONE Goe System Colours. The PANTONE GoeSticks uncoated presents the same colours on uncoated stock in a two-volume set of adhesive-backed colour chips that allow designers to peel off chips and place them on designs and mock-ups. “Designers were extremely excited about the more than 2,000 new colour options introduced with the Goe System,” says Richard Herbert, Executive V.P. and General Manager, PANTONE. “Uncoated stock has become standard media for many of our customers. By offering the GoeGuide and GoeSticks on uncoated stock, we continue to respond to our customer’s requests and support the Goe System with new products.”

ECRM of Tewksbury, Mass., a global leader in imaging technologies for the graphic communications industry, will showcase the DPX 4 Eco at Drupa 2008. The new polyester platesetter has a patented self-contained processing unit that produces press-ready plates in a very small footprint. This eliminates multi-bath chemistry processing. Though eco-friendly, the new poly-platesetter is also fully automated and capable of outputting 27 processed, dried and cut-to-size, ready-to-use plates per hour at 2,540 dpi. The technology uses a field-tested and proven “green” technology. Instead of the plate entering a multi-bath processor, the chemistry is coated directly onto the plate in a thin layer. This results in extremely stable plate development and translates into a superior printed product. And with its dual magazine and built-in register punches, users can optimize their platesetter by outputting plates for two different presses, uninterrupted, without any operator intervention.

Zevrix Solutions of Toronto has released a new version 2.5 of InPreflight, a major update to its comprehensive quality control solution for Adobe InDesign. The software saves users hours of checking their documents manually and dealing with consequences of costly mistakes. InPreflight lets users quickly and easily locate potential problems, helps produce error-free documents and automates packaging of multiple files. It gives extensive information about all document fonts, colors and links so users can quickly spot potential problems according to user defined preflight settings. The new version can print graphic preflight reports that can be saved as searchable interactive PDF files. The results are presented in exactly the same way they appear in InPreflight, providing the users with an easy way to analyze, archive and send reports to service providers.
InPreflight also features its own built-in packaging system, which allows the user to preflight and package multiple files. It can collect all files into one folder, eliminating the need to collect the same links multiple times for each design, which can save gigabytes of disk space and hours of production time. InPreflight can also automatically package multiple files into separate folders if required.

Dollco Printing, an Ottawa-based family-owned firm now in its third generation (in partnership with Markets Initiative, NewPage and the Alberta Research Council), has printed the June issue of Canadian Geographic on new Wheat Sheet paper. This is the only North American magazine to be printed on glossy paper made with wheat straw waste. The paper contains 20% wheat straw, a waste product of agricultural harvest. Wayne Hesse, production manager at Dollco, said “the paper caused no web breaks or extra dust, and its Rotoman press ran at its 65,000-sph maximum.”

Unlike some crops (such as cotton) that can be used as paper fibre, wheat straw does not require extra land for growth. This avoids the land-use issues. Research from Markets Initiative shows that agricultural residue pulps also take less time to cook than wood pulps, and use less energy, water and chemicals in the process. Markets Initiative is currently promoting the use of agricultural residues in paper production to over 400 publishers. Production of the Wheat Sheet could also give support to rural economies by creating a new resource industry in Canada, developing a new revenue stream for farmers.

Dollco Printing is one of Canada’s largest privately held providers of digital, web, and sheetfed printing, handling everything from annual reports to catalogs, newsletters, stationery, brochures and direct mail.

Ultimate Technographics of Montreal, together with Muller Martini, have completed the certification of JDF connectivity from Impostrip to Muller Martini. Ultimate has developed a very high level of imposition automation and optimization for both the offset and the digital print market. The Impostrip engine connects to several types of web2print systems. Ultimate is now extending the same type of connectivity to finishing helping to connect various types of workflows to increase the profitability of the printing process. Ultimate is engaged in the development of a simple user interface for customers to set their finishing preferences for the specific equipment they use as part of the imposition workflow.

“We create Impositions just like a mold that’s used to pour pages in based on the exact look and feel that we want to create as the final product for the consumer, for this reason imposition impacts on finishing, in many ways,” says Joanne David, Executive VP at Ultimate. “Moving forward with the certification of our JDF with Muller Martini’s saddle stitchers will definitely offer our customers new advantages for a greater level of automation.”

'“Many printers have been prevented from creating a CIP4 standardized workflow to their bindery due to the fact that there have been few solutions that are capable of generating a Job Definition Format (JDF) file that includes bindery specifications,” explains Peter Doyle, Corporate Integration and Work Flow Manager at Muller Martini. “The good news for printers desiring to automate their post-press workflow is that Ultimate Technographics has created a solution that allows them to overcome this obstacle. Their imposition software can now be used to write JDF files that include bindery specifications for cutting, folding and saddle stitching. There is no extra data entry needed to create these files.”

Xerox Corporation’s total revenue of $4.3 billion grew by 13% in the first quarter of 2008, with post-sale revenue up 11%. Equipment sale revenue was up 18%. The company’s revenue growth also reflects its acquisition of Global Imaging Systems in May of 2007. Xerox technology is accelerating the adoption of digital colour printing in businesses and commercial print operations. Its colour machines print the highest volume of pages in the industry and last year produced more than 40 billion pages! “We’re investing in sales, expanding our distribution and winning in the marketplace through technology and services offered at competitive prices,” says Anne M. Mulcahy, Chairman and CEO. “This quarter we saw our investments flow through to improved install activity—activity that fuels our profitable annuity stream. With the industry’s broadest portfolio of document technology, our growth initiatives are aimed at increasing distribution and bringing the quality of the Xerox brand to more businesses of any size.”