Grafik’Art goes west

Coming off a season of mega trade events and facing drupa 2008, the biggest of all, the intimate setting of Western Grafik’Art, held April 11-13 at TRADEX in Abbotsford, BC, was a delight. The event’s debut attracted more than 1500 registrants.

For attendees, it was an opportunity to be “up close and personal” with the exhibitors and get the attention that can be lacking at a larger, more stressful event. For the exhibitors, it meant qualified—and committed—prospects, not waves of students attending on free “Student Day” passes.

To some, the drive to Abbotsford sounded like a trip to the end of the earth; however, one participant even trekked from southern Alaska to attend! Regardless of the distance travelled, it was a trip well worth making!

Anchoring the event was Konica Minolta, which displayed several pieces of equipment including the Digital Color Printer LD-6500, complete with online booklet making. The SD-501 saddle stitch booklet finisher can wrap preprinted covers around 50 sheets to create 200-page booklets. The fore-edge trimming function turns out nice smooth booklets regardless of the page count. (www.konicaminolta.ca)

The Xeikon/Punch Graphix booth, staffed by Guy Potvin and his team, was without equipment—British Columbia is a long way from all the excitement across the Atlantic. In post-event conversations, however, I heard that negotiations were already in place for a sale initiated by a new customer at the show.

The Xeikon 8000—which was launched at drupa 08 in Dusseldorf, Germany—was highlighted at this show as well. The roll-fed 8000 runs 230 A4 pages per minute and offers 5 colours—CMYK plus a range of specialty toners such as security toner, clear toner, UV curable toner, and MICR toner, as well as spot colours.

Most interesting is Xeikon’s development of white toner. Guy showed me samples of labels, printed in reverse with white overprint on plastic. They had great colour and really demonstrate the versatility of the machine. (www.punchgraphix.com)

A quick stop at International Binding and Laminating Systems’ booth meant a demonstration of binding both case bound and perfect bound soft cover books.

IBLS offers “one stop shopping” for anyone who wants to get into the business of very short run book production. Whether you are looking to produce very short runs of traditional books on demand or offering photo books, which are becoming more and more popular, the equipment is within the reach of print service providers of all sizes. With the wide range of solutions offered by IBLS, it’s possible to create very nice quality hard and soft cover books in cost-effective short runs. (www.bindingandlaminating.com)

Stretching across several spaces, All Graphic Supplies had both Roland wide format printers and the D.GEN Direct to Fabric Printer set up and running. An eye-catching display of fabrics—brilliantly colored images printed on each one—offered soft suede-like microfiber, meshes, poly-cotton blends, and more.

Cled DeSouza, VP Sales and Marketing for All Graphic Supplies is an expert in new and unusual substrates. Whether you want to produce banners, trade show displays, or prototype fashion fabrics, he can help you out.

After moving to Toronto just 20 years ago, the DeSouzas (Charles and Cled) launched a small sign company. In 1995, they sold their production company and focused on providing supplies and equipment to the industry they had grown to love. (www.allgraphicsupplies.com)

As I came around a corner, Pacific Studio Supplies caught my eye. Run by photographer and inventor Mike Lu, PSS provides supplies and tools for the professional photographer to market his or her work.

Modifying a traditional piece of laminating and dry mounting equipment, Mike has made it possible to attach images to boards of nearly any thickness—even several inches.

He has also invented a beautiful means for displaying photographs embedded in a block of polished crystal. They are perfect for wedding photographs, awards, retail applications, and more.

Mike told me that it was a steep learning curve and he spoiled a lot of expensive crystal before he got the process right! (www.pss2001.com)

Phoenix Media Direct, paper merchant and supplier of a wide range of HP printers, is staffed by photographers and colour experts. Who better to know what combination of paper, ink/toner, and equipment will produce the most beautiful photographs and fine art prints?

I picked up a flyer describing the company’s Green Planet Partner Program. Over the last 13 years, Phoenix Media Direct has had its own recycling program known as the “core pick up,” which has the company collecting empty paper cores and rewinding paper on them to reduce waste sent to landfills.

The company has expanded that service to include cardboard cores, plastic wrap from rolls of paper, end caps, and empty ink and toner cartridges; labeling it the “Green Planet Partner Program.” (www.phoenixmedia.ca)

Green themes also appeared in spaces manned—or shall we say “personned”?—by representatives of printing companies. Gord Kornelsen, owner of Fraser Valley Custom Printers, takes his commitment to the environment seriously saying, “the choice is clear—environmental responsibility without compromise.”

Proud owner of a 28-inch, five-colour press, Gord and his crew can print anything from business cards to books. If you run an Internet search for the company, you’ll find a lot of references to books that the company has printed. (www.fvcustomprinters.com)

Printer Gateway is more than a trade printer. Brian Armstrong, president of the company, clearly believes his job is to make his resellers and trade clients successful.

By using technology—hardware and software—that allows Printer Gateway to gang like jobs, Brian and his crew can eliminate waste and deliver products quickly and efficiently. (www.printergateway.com)

I was sure I was seeing double when Brad Wallans, of Trade Secret Printing, appeared in two places at once! Appropriately named, the company provides trade printing services across the country; pledging to use the latest technology to deliver jobs quickly, efficiently, and securely.

Using the “real time” online quotation system, buyers get instant quotes. At the same time, they are able to track the progress of their jobs, approve proofs online, and get notification of various events in the workflow. Especially good for a trade partner who needs to let their customer know “where is my job?” (www.tsprinting.ca)

Brad appeared—after a change of clothes—in the Intuitive Solutions Group booth. Intuitive Solutions offers software solutions for marketing executives, creative agencies, and print service providers.

Over the last 10 or so years, internet-enabled ordering of print—what we now call Web to Print—has matured and flourished.

What is web to print? It’s an online tool to create, modify, proof, approve, order, and pay for printed materials. On the back end, it provides workflow automation to simplify the production and delivery of those materials.

Printers today are finding that web to print is necessary for doing business.

Intuitive Solutions integrates solutions from companies such as Extensis, a digital asset manager; iP3, also provider of content management tools; iWay’s Press-sense, an automated workflow for web to print; and Quark’s QuarkXPress Server. (www.intuitivesg.com)

Software solutions can be pricey, but Pierre Fournier, of Printing e-Procurement, offers print e-pro, an online service that makes it possible for companies of any size to take advantage of the speed, accuracy, and sophistication of online printing procurement.

Pierre has more than a quarter century of experience buying and producing print, and he set out to develop an e-commerce solution that is easy to use and very reasonably priced—less than $10 a day.

At Western Grafik’Art, Pierre launched a new solution that should prove to be very successful, especially with the photographers who were both attending and manning booths. epro-ft is an inexpensive and secure application that allows the transfer of any size file without the use of an FTP site.

While most graphics companies offer FTP sites, it requires that the sender have additional software and knowledge of passwords and directory names in order to complete the transfer.

At the same time, designers often try to email files and meet size limitations of email servers or ISPs. With epro-ft there are no size limits, no special software to buy, and no need for passwords or folder names. (www.printe-pro.com or www.epro-ft.com)

BC to Host Western
Grafik’Art in 2010

Launching a trade event like this is like raising a child. It starts small and grows! This debut event offered a wide range of equipment, supplies, and technology to buyers who may not have a chance to go to major events like drupa, Graph Expo, or Print 09, the next edition of North America’s largest graphic arts event. It was clear there were attendees who clearly wanted to learn more, to talk about new products and services, and—in some cases—to buy!

In 2010, after the flurry of excitement from the Vancouver Winter Olympics has settled down, the city will host the second biannual Western Grafik’Art. Put it on your calendar now; it promises to be a terrific event!