NAPLBizBuzz

GOA: Has Anyone Heard of PuzzleFlow?

Has anyone heard of PuzzleFlow (from Poland)?  I met with their CEO, Andrzej Czyz, who showed me a demonstration of native online PDF workflow, a cross-media application that may interest content developers and publishers.  It's not the workflow that will interest them, but that he may have an answer for encrypted e-distribution.  That's big stuff, if it really works.  Scoop is that he'll be showing his product around at drupa with the possibility of selling or licensing the application later this year. Word is that Asia's all over it.  Check it out at www.puzzflow.us

Richard S. Papale

GOA: OTView's New View -- Of Latin America

I bumped into a good acquaintance, Walt Marchant, president of OTView, and well, my question to Walt was, "What are you doing here?"  OTView produces OTPrint, as Walt says, "a production management software solution designed for the printing industry by the printing industry."  Actually, OTPrint is neat. It's a full-featured management suite providing all production aspects from estimating through order entry to shop floor data and post production cost auditing, and much more, but you'll have to saddled up with Walt on the much more.  Well, why is Walt here?  He filled me in on what he sees as an underserved Central and South American market and the inefficiencies of manual administration in their jobs (Walt's product is workflow, general production management and administration software).  And while he sells to the US and hasn't sold outside the US, Walt is seizing the opportunity at GOA to measure need and ability to serve the need and is very encouraged and thinks his company can bring the same efficiencies they've brought to many companies in the US to this new market (view).

Richard S. Papale

GOA: Cool, Cool. Cool - Two Reasons Why I Like 121 Digital Printing

121 Digital Printing in Miami is doing two things I like to survive and thrive in today's economy.  Dave Brody, president, convinced that printers like himself need to be able to serve broader, more diverse markets, recently acquired a FujiFilm Acuity HD 2504 wide-format digital printer -- the latest breakthrough in wide-format UV digital imaging technology.  Designed specifically for print applications requiring finely tuned, hi-rez images, the Acuity HD 2504 produces both rigid and flexible point-of-purchase signage that hold up visually, even close up.  As well, 121 has built a unique website where service providers, marketers and other printers not yet equipped to print specialty wide-format jobs, including lenticular, can go to get their jobs instantly priced, uploaded and produced by his company.  Really cool stuff.

Richard S. Papale

GOA: Want to Get "Jacked In" to Clues About Where Latin American Printers Are Focusing?

Here we are in the last day of GOA and a good one at that if you want to get jacked in to key clues and learn more about the focus of Latin American printers.  Artes Graficas and Conversion Magazine are holding conference sessions for attendees who speak Spanish.  So if wisdom is served accordingly here, these conference developers have done their homework and will offer up a menu of conference sessions that are strategically tied to the primary interest areas of the industry in Latin America.  What are their specials of the day tapping into market interest?  Session 1 is zeroing in on the state of digital workflow solutions and giving your company a competitive edge. The real focus here is on solutions, programs, and technologies for prepress and integrating them with offset, flexo or digital printing processes to improve overall workflow. Operative words there -- prepress, technology.  Session 2 is looking at principal technologies - now and developing - in the graphics arts industry.  See a pattern here?  Prepress, technology, prepress, technology, prepress.  And session 3 is a suppliers panel that's going unleash new product and technology announcements.  Now I wonder what these releases will say?  Yeah, right.  My take on it, good place to be if the poetry of prepress and tech toys are your daily bread.

Richard S. Papale

GOA: Xante Drawing Crowds with New Products

I noticed two days of crowds at the Xante booth and decided to poke my head into the crowd to see what was happening.  Scott Reese, Senior VP, Worldwide Sales, says that they had 100 leads yesterday and are at 100+ today, looking to top off at 150 -- most of the leads coming from Latin American companies.  Xante's focusing on ways the company's low cost and highly unique products can help commercial printers develop new products and services that put profit in their pockets.  What's new from Xante? A new product line, the Xante Llumina 502 digital color laser press, which can easily handle a wide range of paper weights, from text to ultra thick cover.To capitalize on the media versatility of the Llumina 502, Xante announced new media options for the new machine, and new magnetic media for use with the new Llumina 502. 

Richard S. Papale

GOA - Losing its Local Flavor? -- this Year Maybe

Traffic remains light to moderate and the absence of regional printers is quite evident.  Many are pointing to the fact that On Demand is next week, right on the heels of GOA.  But the the parade of Latin American countries remains strong and well represented, especially Central and South America. What has also been absent as well is the European contingent - more specifically, Spain, which would be a true asset for GOA, as Spain is the most progressive European country in terms of digital technology.  It would also be a plus to see more integration of speakers from the Latin American countries to learn more about their requirements and needs - a nice bridge to initiating conversations and developing relationships.  I recall four years ago when the well-known and righfully respected Ricard Casals was here from Spain, tending to his booth with his son, Jaimie, in between his many sought after presentations.  While his offered publications bring his loyal legion of followers to NAPL's booth, Ricard - your physical presence is missed!

Richard S. Papale

GOA: Is It Quark or Is It InDesign? - A Chat with Quark

So I wandered by the Quark booth because I wanted to see and feel Quark 7, and I thought, why not ask that question again -- why is it that everyone I speak with seems to be migrating to InDesign?  Not the most popular question to ask a Quark booth person, but he was quite forthcoming with information, and best said three things that stayed with me: 1) you have to look at the way you work, 2) ask yourself how are you working and what are you using and, 3) that the job market requirements will dictate usage.  While I haven't pulled the plug on Quark (it's a good product and there's market space for both), I've marvelled at how InDesign's edu marketing approach has been "slick" in that they went to the edu market and seem to have penetrated that market on price (and quality, as it's a good product as well)and got the InDesign seed planted in the heads of educators and students. But think about this, future graduates are walking into the marketplace tatooed with InDesign. 

Quick Visit with Ike Savitt -- 15 year NAPL Soderstom Society Member

What a nice surprise it is to be visited by Ike Savitt- a veteran of the industry and 15 year NAPL Soderstrom Society Member. Ike is now working as a senior advisor with CNI, a printing blankets and liferafts company based in Shanghai. Markus Helber, president of CNI Graphics and Youlong, who is a veteran of GOA, having attended the show since 1992, says it's an excellent place for US and Central American access and contacts.  More to come with Ike tomorrow a.m., as he's promised to come back and educate me.

GOA: Front End is Where It's At

So where am I heading today inside the aisles of GOA?  That's an easy answer.  It's the front end folks for me.  I always said there's gold in them designer hills (what a huge population they represent) - where the combination of current applications and emerging technology has the potential to create tremendous revenue opportunities for savvy graphic communications companies -- and it looks like some of this gold mining potential will be tapped today with the "personlization" talk of an industry experts panel centered right on it.  Today's full day Design for Personalized Communication Educational Conference aimed at advertising staff (why don't we pay more attention to this end of the business?) marketing specialists, graphic designers, digital printing professionals, printers and pre-press technicains will be teeming at this conference looking to learn not only more about personalization and what it means to their business abut also how it can help grow their business.  Some feature presenters include Steven Schnoll who is chatting about building a digital business model; Peter Winters who is talking about creating a variable sales and marketing plan for selling personalization and variable printing and; Frank McPherson who is taking custom data imaging a step further with a presentation on how to remove variable selling barriers. More to come...Xante is really on the move! Is this a local or global show?  Or both?

GOA: Paper or Plastic? Counterfeiting?

The afternoon traffic has picked up considerably....and here's a Drupa sneak peak.  MGI Digital Graphic Technology (MGI) is spotlighting a range of compatible substrates for Meteor digital presses designed for commerical printers who want to provide digital, full 4-color process on a variety of paper and plastics substrates, with full variable data for short-run and on demand applications....and Proctor & Gamble's Paul Fox is addressing the $700 billion a year "industry" and it's counterfeiting and it's illegal!  Experts estimate that increasingly sophisticated fakes and forgeries move upwards of $700 billion a year worldwide - with at least $350 billion attributed to print, packaging, or labels.  Amazing.   

GOA: Light Traffic...But Diverse Representation

A few hours plus into the show and the traffic is light but steady and will more than likely pick up later in the day as visitors get settled into Miami.  But the representation is as predicted. My conversations have moved from one to another with individuals from Guatemala, Venezuela, Uruguay, Columbia to the Dominican Republic.  In my early observations and chats, printers on a local level are looking for business specifics – mainly quality control and workflow related – and on a more global level at how to make inroads into the US market space.  More to come…

Richard S. Papale

GOA: A First Day Pre-Show Inside Glimpse of What's to Come

It’s 7:18 in the a.m. and after unpacking and setting up the NAPL booth yesterday and then taking an evening stroll along the always colorful and amusing South Beach, I’m looking forward, as always, to the first day of the Graphics of the Americas conference – the first industry show of the year.  Touted as the show of the future – where you can discover new revenue opportunities at this convergence of traditional and digital printing – this year there’s 1100 booths where you can see the new presses, equipment, products and consumables for 2008.  And while this year’s show features a Design City, an XML Pavilion, a Wide-Format Hall and more, what has caught my eye at first sight, is the show on Security Printing and counterfeiting deterrence. 

     With the growth in digital content and the oncoming growth in the use of digital rights management for e-distribution, this should be interesting (and fun).  Will tell you more as I get to the show and tell. In addition to the show features I saw wandering the halls during setup, I was quite taken by the many software sessions focused on the importance of front end workflow – the designers – from InDesign and Photoshop to Flash and Illustrator. 

     Well, much to see and much to do in the next three days, but mostly, I must say that I’m looking forward to what I find most unique about this show each year – the audience and many of my business acquaintances from the Latin American community.  Unlike any other show in our industry, the Latin American community from South to Central America, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain (sorry if I left anyone out), Graphics of the Americas is well represented and I look forward to seeing my friends.  Got to go…time to dig into my first day.  Hasta luego!

Richard S. Papale