Consumables-General - Plates

There's some new tools for connectivity and commerce in the world of computer-aided design and manufacturing for packaging. "WHAT'S NEW IN CAD/CAM?" I recently asked this question to Don Skenderian, the man in charge of the most widely used packaging CAD program in the universe. Expecting a more technically oriented, CAD-specific response, I was surprised to get an answer right out of our telecommuted, Internet-age lexicon. He said: "Connectivity." Skenderian—and every other product development director I interviewed for this article—believes that the most important work going on in computer-assisted design and diemaking is collecting, collating, and communicating CAD data to other processes in

Though available for years, options are just now being used to improve prepress workflow. Like most businesses in the current economy, convertors are constantly looking to increase their cost-effectiveness through new technology. One often-overlooked stage that printers have begun to explore in an effort to improve workflow, and therefore costs, is the prepress facet of the industry. Improvements in prepress workflow and/or data transmission have been available for quite a while now, but converters have been slow to take advantage of these opportunities. "The tools for improvement are there," says David Zwang, IPA operational TEAM consultant leader and founder of Zwang & Company,

A look at two ink systems for HiFi printing. By Terri McConnell, Prepress Editor "IN 1903, THE Wright brothers made their first engine-powered flight. Sixty-six years later, we put men on the moon. If you compare the evolution of flight to the evolution of color in print, we're still in the dark ages. Four printing plates and four cans of ink." So begins Matthew Bernasconi's call for a revolution in ink. Bernasconi, founder of the Australian company Opaltone Graphic Solutions, is a passionate evangelist for what is known as HiFi printing—the use of a six- or seven-color ink system to replace the four-color (cyan,

Remote proofing developments raise fundamental business questions. by Terri McConnell, Prepress Editor REMOTE PROOFING IS a set of evolutionary image-communication technologies with mainstream appeal and very broad applications. There is debate on exact terminology, but we'll say that remote proofing denotes the concept of making digital image data accessible to another person, at another location, for review and commentary. The image data may be rendered on a hard copy output device, or it may be viewed onscreen, a practice known as soft proofing. In either case, remote proofing facilitates the sharing of printable images throughout the iterative approval process from concept to completion.

Remote proofing developments raise fundamental business questions. by Terri McConnell, Prepress Editor REMOTE PROOFING IS a set of evolutionary image-communication technologies with mainstream appeal and very broad applications. There is debate on exact terminology, but we'll say that remote proofing denotes the concept of making digital image data accessible to another person, at another location, for review and commentary. The image data may be rendered on a hard copy output device, or it may be viewed onscreen, a practice known as soft proofing. In either case, remote proofing facilitates the sharing of printable images throughout the iterative approval process from concept to

The highly evolved and standardized process of offset platemaking still leaves some room for improvement. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor THE SOPHISTICATION OF existing offset platemaking processes has not encouraged complacency among equipment suppliers. On the contrary, rising competition from flexo, as well as increasing adoption of CTP and DI practices, have fostered a more innovative path to better plates and processing. Science bests art In offset platemaking's struggle with art versus science, it seems the latter won several years ago. And that is a good thing, contends Richard Butler, product development manager for Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. (Graphic Systems Division). "Really, what

Can the industry adopt a common language for the approval process? by Terril McConnell, Prepress Editor In his national best seller, "Cultural Literacy, What Every American Needs to Know," author J. D. Hirsch argues our society may be suffering from a serious "failure to communicate." Not that we lack the means. The problem, proposes Hirsch, is that we don't necessarily know what to say to one another when we do connect. Hirsch explains public school systems have de-emphasized rote learning, the 3Rs, and literary classics in favor of more innovative and individualized studies on everything from basket weaving to brake shoes, graduating several generations

Here's what Digital Asset Management (DAM) really means, and how your shop can find its place in it. by Susan Friedman, Editor When it comes to pursuing Digital Asset Management (DAM), the challenge for our industry is two-fold: Converters and trade shops must first determine their place in the overall image-management scheme, and then sort out which DAM solution best suits their operations. A good no-frills definition of DAM, from consultants Cognizant Technology Solutions, pegs it as "the archival, retrieval, tracking, manipulation, re-purposing, interaction with, and transaction of all types of digital media." DAM architectures and interfaces provide valuable controls for the issues

Effective color management may require thinking outside the lines. by Terri McConnell, Prepress Editor One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. Remember that Seuss classic? Numbers, colors, and shapes are our first adjectives; the first ways in which we are taught to differentiate the objects of our world. A perusal of the World Book reveals color to be a remarkable physical phenomenon. Light is made up of multiple colors. When a light wave is refracted, or bent, it separates into distinct color wavelengths. Light-sensing cells in the human eye are each tuned to react to different wavelengths between 400 to 700 nanometers.

Scan volume may be down at prepress and printing firms, but scanners aren't by any means out of the production picture. by Susan Friedman, Editor Decline, yes. Demise, no. Or is the picture that simple for the use of scans in graphic file production? A recent study conducted by TrendWatch/Cahners Inc. stated the percentage of creative professionals intending to purchase scanners is at its lowest level in years, primarily because of the rising use of digital cameras, digital file storage, and digital file transmission. Dave Watson, VP/packaging at prepress trade shop American Color, reports a reduction in scan use that echoes the tone of