4/3/01 (WhatTheyThink) With so much happening in the wide format marketplace, NUR's CEO, Erez Shachar, sees many of the trends parallel those in other printing sectors. According to Shachar, the fast pace of business today has created a demand for shorter print runs with fast turnaround time. "Prepress techniques have evolved to accommodate this trend and printing systems are changing in this direction as well. We see this in wide format printing as well as other types of digital printing. Shorter print runs accommodate regional and demographic differences and allow customization of wide format materials to fit their environment." In tandem with shorter print runs, Shachar envisions an increase in the requirement for variable data printed on wide format and point of purchase materials. Says Shachar "Brand owners and advertisers are becoming increasingly aware of the inherent advantages the new digital technologies bring to wide format printing and are increasingly utilizing them in their point of purchase promotional strategies." Another potentially huge emerging market for NUR made possible because of the availability of superwide printing on both soft and rigid media is fleet and truckside advertising. Shachar says more cars, trucks and buses are being covered in self-adhesive vinyl as well as an increase in the demand for changeable, soft sided or removable flexible truckside ads. "Again, this new advertising medium offers the ability to customize messages to demographic areas and audiences and takes advantage of the short runs but high quality digital inkjet printing provides. Specifiers of graphics images are becoming more demanding in light of the increased technology availability and we see a shift away from monochrome and vinyl cutting systems to full color graphics for a wide variety of new applications: trucks and on-premises signage."