11 technologies won the 2002 GATF InterTech Technology Award

On July 29, 2002, a message from Pittsburgh, GATF’s headquarters, announced that 11 technologies have won the 2002 GATF InterTech Technology Award this year. GATF has funded the InterTech Technology Award for 24 years. Its purpose is to show printers the important trends and technologies that have been forecasted to have an impact on production and profits.

This year GATF received a total of 30 participating products, which is a year in which the number of enrolled participants is a relatively high proportion of the number of awards. This award is mainly given to those who “make outstanding contributions to the technological innovation of the image communication industry” and therefore there is no limit. The number of awards. John Lind, director of research at GATF, explained: “We are delighted to see many manufacturers exploring new ways to increase production efficiency and have higher investment reporting rates.”

This year’s technological innovations have focused on areas where there has been little technological progress, such as binding, new inks, and coating blanket preparation. In addition, some technologies that can improve production efficiency are also highly valued. This is mainly to meet the growing demand for short-lived jobs, and to emphasize the shortening of job preparation time, not to increase the operating speed of equipment. A technology that enables all aspects of a printing production line to coordinate and operate optimally.

The selection committee consists of a group of anonymous industry experts and users. They have nothing to do with GATF. They try to pick out the best from a large number of manufacturers. The products of these manufacturers may be first time to market, or they may be transformed into small prints. Enterprises can accept or can significantly reduce their production costs. The selection criteria stipulates that the participating technology must be newly developed and can be applied practically, but it has not yet been universally used. The open architecture allows some patent systems and companies that are not members of the GATF/PIA to participate in the competition.

In order to foster awareness and use of advanced technologies, GATF will publish to its members a brochure on award-winning technology and all nominated technologies.

The InterTech Technology Awards will be presented at the GATF/PIA Management Annual Meeting on November 16, 2002. Award-winning company representatives will receive a multi-layered star made of plexiglass. The names of the company and technology will be carved on the highly polished copper plate on the prize base.

List of winners of the 2002 InterTech Technology Awards (listed in the company's Arabic alphabet)
1. Adobe's PDF Transit
Adobe Systems, San Jose, CA,
The software development kit includes various components needed to create a web-based print workflow solution. The web-based print workflow solution starts from the user's desktop and can be extended over local area networks, wide area networks, and even the Internet, and finally arrive at the terminal printing. Service or output device. It passes the powerful energy of the PDF printing workflow to all users connected to the network, making it easier for the print supplier's job production and ensuring that the customer's print job can be completed within the first time. One of the judges said: “The creators of innovative PDF files now make Internet-based on-demand printing a reality. PDF Transit provides the market with a fundamental infrastructure that can bring innovative products and solutions, radically simplifying Print workflows reduce time and costs for service providers and end users."

2. Arpeco's Injector System Arpeco Engineering Limited, Mississauga, ON, Canada,
Arpeco combines the advantages of platform and rotary die-cutting systems to create an innovative processing system that targets web-based printing and folding carton processing. It uses a mild steel processing tool to process inline printed webs without the use of a magnetic roller of a specified step size. The Injector system uses a set of fixed-length magnetic cylinders to support a variety of different die-cutting steps, eliminating the need for investment in specified step-length machining tools. On-line, intermittent, rotary cutting, creasing, and stripping systems are also designed for quick job changes. The judges commented: “Arpeco's combination of the two technologies yields incredible cost savings, and savings in job preparation time will have a huge impact on the carton processing industry.”

3. Enfocus's PDF technology Enfocus Software Inc., San Mateo, CA,
Enfocus's certified PDF workflow reverts the preflight of the PDF file back to the document's production phase and enables full quality control and predictive output. The receiver can confirm that the received PDF is compatible with their production parameters and can track all changes through the workflow. The result of Enfocus's closed-loop control of PDF workflows is the unprecedented stability and predictability of the digital file exchange process. The judges concluded: "Everyone who uses Enfocus to prepare documents has benefited from it. In addition, Enfocus has specified the right direction for the industry by introducing preflight into the design studio."

4. Gerber Sector's Coating Blanket Production System
Gerber Innovations, a division of Gerber Scientific, Inc., Manchester, CT,
Through the automatic processing of coated blankets inside commercial and packaging printing companies, the troubles of manual cutting are eliminated, the speed is increased, the efficiency is improved, and the costs are reduced. It consists of easy-to-use driver software that seamlessly mounts on existing prepress workflows to ensure accurate placement. The compact, easy-to-move cutting unit can be moved anywhere in the shop. The judges believe that this system can shorten the complete production cycle of the blanket, from the original 3 days of external processing to the current 1 hour in the company. In addition, printers can also save a lot of cost, it is estimated that each blanket can save 200 US dollars, does not include transportation costs, greatly increasing the flexibility of production and customer satisfaction.

5. ColorQuick's Press Analysis System Graphics Microsystems Inc., Sunnyvale, CA,
The system can capture all kinds of information required for filtering to increase the productivity of printing presses, predict the status of machine maintenance, and compare the performance of various presses in different pressrooms by outputting forecast reports and graphs for printers. Printers can use the density and spectrophotometric data collected in the system to make more detailed trend analysis, evaluate the performance of the press to ensure that they can output stable density values, dot gain values, and chromaticity values, thereby improving the printing press's performance. Efficiency and output. Evaluation by the judges:
GMI's ability to automatically collect data overcomes the barriers to quality control in actual operations. In addition, they set a mark for the closed-loop color control system, bringing the concept of color management to a new level.

6. Hydro H2O Inks
Midwest Ink Company, Broadview, IL, or
Hydro H2O Inks makes it possible to use only water during the printing process without the use of fountain solution. The absence of chemicals reduces the harm and impact on the printing hardware, the ink itself and the environment. This technique greatly reduces the extraction of calcium from various paper media, thus reducing the deposition of calcium on printing plates, blankets, and ink lines, thereby reducing downtime. In addition, good overprints can also be obtained. Hydro H2O Inks for thermosetting printing has the above advantages, but also reduces the oven temperature to 30-40 degrees. The judges commented: “Printers using Hydro H2O Inks will see numerous advantages of this product, such as easy cleaning of blankets, fewer replacements, reduced downtime and paper waste, and improved ink stability. ."

7. Prima AMRYS
Muller Martini Corporation, Hauppauge, NY,
Prima AMRYS automates one of the most time-consuming tasks in the bookbinding process. It is the installation of the saddle stitching system during the job change. With this system, the operator can directly change job parameters from the PIP file developed by CIP3 from prepress. Or enter in the MIS database, the computer can quickly adjust the machine to meet the needs of new orders. The judges praised Muller Martini's innovative products. They think that this product can meet the demand for short-term jobs in the future, and efficient job preparation is as fast as the speed of the machine.

8. NexPress 2100 Digital Production Color Press
NexPress Solutions LLC, Rochester, NY,
Heidelberg Druckmaschinen AG and Eastman Kodak have jointly developed NexPress, which brings together thousands of patented technologies. With this rich technical support, NexPress becomes a true digital production color printer, which is the long-awaited technology in the field of digital color printing. The NexPress 2100 has the stability and durability of an offset press, reliably outputting high-quality images, and has the flexibility, convenience, and fast cycle times. With the NexPress 2100, print suppliers can expand their production capabilities, generate higher value and generate more profits. The judges believe that the NexPress 2100's non-proprietary front-end system has enabled digital printing in the industry and has driven the development of variable-data printing.

9. Inkjet Computer-to-Plate
PISCES-Print Imaging Sciences, Inc., Nashua, NH, www.Jetplate.com
PISCES's JetPlate is a cheap, desktop metal computer-to-plate system developed specifically for small offset printing. The JetPlate system is based on a less expensive B3-format inkjet printer, allowing printers to receive digital job documents directly from the customer, and then immediately image the job on a traditional aluminum-type aluminum plate before entering the press for printing. Although other CTP systems use expensive laser systems, this system uses innovative liquid light imaging to chemically react photosensitive emulsions. Experts commented: “This less expensive system uses inexpensive supplies that are connected to systems from other manufacturers and applies computer-to-plate technology to most small or low-end printing companies in the industry.”

10. Printcafe PrintFlow
Printcafe Software, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA,
Unlike the current static planning system, Printcafe's PrintFlow dynamic planning software coordinates all activities and work center activities within the company to optimize the company's internal production process. PrintFlow considers the parameters of each job and determines the best printing plan to maximize the efficiency of the cost center. PrintFlow was designed based on TGO (Total Optimization Theory) and was developed by Printcafe's Udi Arieli Working Group. He allowed the printing company to plan, schedule, optimize operations, coordinate the entire production process, and bring it to life. Experts commented that investment in the planning system can increase production efficiency. Although the concept is simple, it is very useful.

11. Timson T48A ZMR Book Press
Timson, Inc., Schaumburg, IL,
ZMR (Zero Job Preparation Time) is a short-run rotary offset book printing machine that can replace monochrome jobs without stopping the machine, thus completely eliminating job preparation time. Although printing is done with a single unit, the press operator can change the plates on the other units. When the printing starts, the second unit will immediately synchronize with the speed of the rollers, so that the waste of paper is minimized and there is no production at all. Loss of time. The judges commented: “Timson emphasized the industry's future demand for short-run books and books and saved costs. In addition, a drum-free axle design of the ZMR makes the floor space very small, and the future development prospects are very broad.”