FFTA Prepress Meeting: "Time Is Money"

Published: November 11, 2002, By PRESS RELEASE

Foundation of Flexographic Technical Association's "The Future of Digital Prepress," Digital Prepress Conference and Tabletop Exhibtion, October 2002, Dallas, TX

DALLAS, TX, USA—FFTA reports 154 prepress professionals turned out for its 2002 digital prepress meeting. According to FFTA, the attendees were treated to 32 different speakers "who drove home several points. Namely:

• approval cycles are getting shorter;

• errors are not being tolerated;

• cost controls are being put in place; and

• value-added services are attracting the eyes of print buyers."

According to FFTA, event co-chairs, Steve Smiley, Vertis Inc., and Tom Cooper, Alliance Group, opened the proceedings with the declaration: "Flexography's prepress shops must create a new culture. Business drivers are changing. Hardware is changing. Software is changing. Cost is one of the biggest issues. Speed to market is another. Time is money."

Says Steve Miller, package printing specialist at Creo, "Printers must decrease costs, reduce cycle times, and fully automate processes. Likely steps they will take will involve introduction of content workflow systems and job information workflow systems, both of which are designed to work with open standards. Management information systems (MIS) will be designed to work with open standards. Prepress systems will become database driven. The important thing is that data will be able to be repurposed and printers will be able to go digital -- start to finish." Predicts Mark Mazur, DuPont Cyrel, "The next ten years will bring more change and more remote proofing. The future is fast-to-plate."

Visit FFTA at flexography.org.