Years ago we introduced a wonderful "little" technology to the CTP market called SQUAREspot - a 10,000 dpi thermal laser imaging system.

This uniquely high resolution enables clear differentiation between "exposed" and "unexposed" edges, producing dots on plate with greater consistency and measurably tighter production tolerances than coarser Gaussian laser imaging technologies.

SQUAREspot provides unparalleled quality, resolution, stability, latitude, and process control for making digital offset plates. This technology helped pave the way for thermal plates to become the dominant technology for CTP, especially in high-volume and high-quality printing markets worldwide.

The benefits of SQUAREspot for our customers were well recognized - both in terms of quality and cost efficiency.

Now that Kodak's Graphic Communications Group is made up from some of the best companies in the industry, with some of the most innovative technologies, even the SQUAREspot message no longer captures the total value that we can deliver to our customers!

What our customers need to ensure their long-term survival and profitability is pretty simple: stability and process control, right from the beginning of the software workflow, through to the last printed dot on press. With the drive towards automation throughout the printing process, Stability isn't just a nice thing to have - it's mission-critical.

The biggest challenges our customers face - saving costs,being more efficient, and cutting waste - are exactly the ones we help solve,with products that deliver higher quality more consistently, with less investment and less impact on our environment.

Rather than focusing on just one small part of the process like plate developer (like some of our competitors are doing), bigger opportunities can be found across four key areas of the Production Cycle: Imaging, Prepress, On-Press, and the Environment. For a more in-depth view, visit our micro-site for Kodak's Offset Stability Program at http://www.kodak.com/go/stability . We'll help you find ways to improve Stability throughout your production environment - whether you choose Kodak products in the end or not.

Sometimes we have the luxury of playing with technology just for the fun of it, but when it can have such a huge impact on your business' profitability - and even survival - it must be taken a lot more seriously. Look at the full opportunity for Stability improvement in your print shop, and Kodak will gladly help you find some great ways to achieve it.

Okay you road warriors and occasional tradeshow junkies.  You collect literally dozens of business cards every month with personal follow up notes written in the small spaces on the back.  You know who you are.  

So what are you doing with this valuable information?  Tediously typing in the notes and data into your contact database?  Filing away via rubber-banded stacks of cards on your desk?  Keeping them close in your leather portfolio, only to find they've settled to the bottom of your briefcase and discovering them weeks or months later?   There's got to be a better way (there is)!

Kodak offers a variety of document scanners for business-to-business applications.  Earlier this year we launched the KODAK Scan Mate i1120 Scanner.  It can handle single or stacked business cards as well as long forms (8.5" x  34") at speeds up to 20 pages per minute, capturing both the front and back side of the document in one pass through the automatic document feeder.

Ahh, but digitizing your documents is only part of the battle.  Fortunately the scanner comes richly bundled with some very useful software:

Nuance Scansoft PaperPort  11 is great for organizing your documents and photos.  For you road warriors, think receipts, bills, expense reports, letters and contracts.  You can scan into Microsoft Word through the built in OmniPage 15 character recognition software or save as a fully searchable PDF.

Presto!BizCard 5 is the software I'm using for all of my business cards.  You simply run a stack through the KODAK Scan Mate Scanner and the software captures the front and back of the card and  ----this is the best part---- it automatically reads the text data on your card and saves it on within its own contact management database on your hard drive.  No typing required!


Front of card and data automatically captured in BizCard

Back side of card with handwritten notes.There's even a function to rotate the image, if you wrote sideways or upside down.

The software also has a cool function that allows you to click on the address and a Map Quest map shows up.

Now that's not all......you can also synch the business card database from the desktop application directly into your PDA or your email system.  Now you BlackBerry users out there can have your contact info at your fingertips 24 x 7, instead of trapped in rubber-banded stacks on your desk.

In my last post, I asked what you think the next big change in the printing industry will be and if you are ready for it. One way to stay ahead of the curve is to attend association meetings that research and discuss industry trends with printing industry executives.

In Cincinnati, June 18-20, I had the opportunity to attend my first PRIMIR meeting. PRIMIR stands for Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization and the group was formed in 2005 when GAMIS and the NPES Market Research Committee combined. I attended at the invitation of the current Chairperson, Chris Echevarria, who is a close colleague of mine at Kodak. Chris is also a contributing blogger to growyourbiz.com, so be sure to look for her postings in the near future. PRIMIR meets quarterly and in addition to hosting industry speakers they also conduct open committee meetings to discuss multiple ongoing research topics. In the past year, PRIMIR has recently published studies including Trends in Sheetfed Lithography (2008), Trends in Inkjet Technologies 2006 - 2011(2007) and more. Another colleague at Kodak, Chandni Dighe, is currently involved in a book publishing study to be published in 2008. Reports can be found on the PRIMIR website and are free to members.

I enjoyed listening to guest speaker Jim Chisholm of iMedia as he shared his view of the future of newspaper publishing. Another hot topic included sustainability which is the focus of another current PRIMIR research project. During the meeting there was plenty of time for networking during breaks, lunch and at evening events, which included a Cincinnati Reds game and a river boat dinner cruise.

One of the highlights of the meeting was a tour of Kodak's Inkjet Printing Solutions facility in Dayton, Ohio. Members had a chance to see our printing systems in action, including our full color 750 fpm Kodak Versamark VX5000 Plus Printing System, Kodak Versamark VL2000 Printing System, Kodak Versamark VT3000 Printing System, NexPress S3000 and the Digimaster  EX150.

Kodak Versamark VL2000 Printing System

To stay ahead of the curve, it is important to stay tuned into the latest trends and one of the most efficient ways to do so is to become involved with an industry association. I hope you'll consider attending an association meeting of your choice in the near future.

Left to Right: Paul Jaynes, Eastman Kodak Company, Task Force Leadership - Trends and Future of Financial & Transactional Printing; Kip Smythe, PRIMIR President & NPES Vice President; Diana Cotton, xpedx, Task Force Leadership - Mega Printers' Impact on North American Print Market; Christina Echevarria, Eastman Kodak Company, Task Force Leadership - Mega Printers' Impact on North American Print Market.