Craig Bauer

Publishing executives and warehouse managers in companies large and small, with highly diverse and targeted products and marketing channels, can benefit for the first time from a new Warehouse Benchmarking System. The program was tested last year by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and is now being rolled out to the industry. Participants can measure their productivity and improve the effectiveness of their warehousing practices. It is an easy-to-use, and highly powerful program that relies on comparative peer-group data. “Participants use their [Web] browser to enter the appropriate data in a convenient, tabular format,” says Professor Leon McGinnis at the School of Industrial

Not even a George Clooney sighting could disrupt the 2006 Book Business Conference and Expo, which took place March 20-22 at the Hilton New York. The celebrity was filming his latest picture just feet away from the conference’s registration area and—predictably—attracted all sorts of ogling from attendees and passers-by, but it was the conference and expo that were the stars of the week. Much like the industry it serves, the conference found itself in an unprecedented state of evolution when it kicked off on Monday, March 20. In its 10th year and amid revolutionary changes in the world of book publishing, this year’s conference

Booktech: Is it safe to assume digital print is also print on demand? Bauer: It could be. Print-on-demand is probably an origination of it. That's how a lot of it was sold at the beginning. So digital print is fairly mature. It's been around for over a decade. Booktech: When you say digital print is mature, does that mean it's lived up to the promises vendors made for it early on? Bauer: One of the things we've observed is that many of the promises and claims made by digital print manufacturers to publishers were difficult to bring to fruition. Booktech: What were some of those promises? Bauer: The profitability

CTP Opinions In four-color CTP, digital file preparation is more complicated and time-consuming; scanning, image editing, trapping and other prepress functions require more capable (and expensive) systems as well as highly-skilled prepress operators.-- --Frank Ervin, vice president of training and technology at Phoenix Color The biggest ad-vantage of CTP--better print quality--is most dramatic with four-color. --Steve Franzino, who is vice president of technology, Courier Corp "A black-and-white book typically is about 100 MB. A four-color book of the same page size is typically about 4 GB." --Craig Bauer, facilitator of information technology and digital prepress, R.R. Donnelley Roanoke A switch to a CTP

When it comes to computer-to-plate printing, more printers and publishers join the ranks of the believers every day, either experimenting with CTP with their four-color jobs, or switching to it by Tatyana Sinioukov Despite some limitations, as discussed by industry professionals below, CTP for four-color book production saves time and money and offers faster turnaround and higher quality than a conventional, film-based workflow. That's why more and more printers and publishers join the ranks of the believers every day, either experimenting with CTP with their four-color jobs, or switching to it completely. According to Frank Ervin, vice president of training and technology at

CTP Veterans Share Tips For Publishers Taking Their First Steps By Tatyana Sinioukov So what's a publisher to do when considering going CTP with four-color work? Do your homework, first and foremost, insists Rick Wills, electronic prepress manager, Banta Book Group, Menasha, WI. Tom Carpenter, director of book development for the North American Outdoor Group (NAOG), Minnetonka, MN, agrees, suggesting visiting a publisher who is already using CTP as a first step. "We all know people at other publishing companies, and the technology isn't proprietary--I can't see where anyone would have a problem showing you what goes on, as a professional courtesy," he muses. "You can't understand