Dear Count, Thanks for asking!
FWIW,
Premier Sport went off at 3 to 5 but did not run up to those high expectations. Can you believe this: two other horses ran faster! Finished 3rd by two or so lengths. Great weather at a dynamite track in one of the best cities in the world. Had a great day, including Print97!
Here are some observations from Print97 from an ignorant observer.
BTW, People manning the booths were very friendly to me and shared lots of information in spite of my badge which read : James Shircliff, Shircliff Racing Stable, Kentucky.
First observation: VERY imPRESSive! I wish that I had more time to take it all in.
Heidelberg was a standout. As was the Quickmaster DI. The Spy show (Mission:DI) was a little hokey but fun to watch. Alas, they did not mention PRst in the little show.
I watched a H'berg rep demonstrate the QMDI to a small group of printers. Very good work and the printers were interested. I hope I didn't poop in the punchbowl when I asked about "only one source for the plates?" The H'berg man (Vern) visibly winced and muttered "yeah, right now." But then he brightened up a little and added, "There's a startup that will be will be in the business soon, I understand!" Then he changed the subject and returned to the potential buyers.
I got a copy of the H'berg brochure about the QMDI and noticed a couple things:
Here is a direct quote:
for the QMDI "there is great demand for printed products to address NARROWLY DEFINED (emphasis added) target groups..: I take this a proof of my contention that this is a nice NICHE in the printing business.
Additionally, in the QMDI brochure, there is a chart which shows the positioning of the QMDI between Conventional offset and the toner-based color printers. It looks like a squeeze to me!
At the PearlGold demonstration at the Pitman booth, there were only 2 other parties watching a very knowledgable and pleasant lady give the spiel.
And the impression I got regarding plates was that the DuPont ZP (Zero Processing) thermal plate was a big hit.
My conclusion was that printers of the world have a tremendous VARIETY of terrific new options as printing moves to digital. The QMDI was impressive but the focus was clearly on the machine itself, not the plates.
Jim FWIW |
