March 25, 2002 -- PrintCity – the strategic co-operation of companies within the graphic arts industry – has finalized details of the workflows that will form the PrintFactory at IPEX 2002. PrintCity’s unique PrintFactory will incorporate a range of real live workflows – with jobs being produced during the course of each and every day of the show. The clearly visible workflows represent the most significant advancement for the PrintCity membership since its exhibition debut at DRUPA 2000. Offset-litho printing will take place on MAN Roland, Shinohara and Manugraph presses, with digital workflows producing work on Oce and MAN Roland products. Agfa plates will be imaged live, and then the jobs will be produced on press, and finished with a range of equipment from member companies including Kama, Wohlenberg, MBO, Hohner and Blumer. Consumable items including blankets, inks, and paper will also be provided via PrintCity member companies, including UPM Kymmene, Sun Chemical, Reeves, MacDermid, Sappi, M-Real, and Wolstenholme. “We believe that this really is the most advanced suite of workflows that any exhibitor has put together,” said Rainer Kuhn, General Manager, PrintCity. “PrintFactory has been designed to show the very latest integrated solutions. Whilst much of what we exhibit might appear quite futuristic to many printers, all of the products within the PrintFactory are available right now.” Software management tools, including an MIS from Optimus and MAN Roland’s PECOM system, will provide the glue that binds each system together. Work being produced will replicate typical jobs from the commercial, packaging, book, and magazine printer, but will also demonstrate how different print world’s are coming together. One job, for example, will illustrate how a personalised, digitally printed element can be incorporated within an offset-litho printed text, with the whole printed product then being “packaged” for distribution. “The fact that, via our members, we can produce the whole workflow and the consumable items for every sector of the industry is something that no other exhibitor can provide. Whether printers are keen to investigate offset-litho or digital print solutions, they will find a workflow to interest them within the PrintFactory,” said Frank Schelfaut of Agfa, Project Manager for the PrintFactory. “We are looking forward to welcoming every printer that visits IPEX into PrintCity and to the PrintFactory – there really will be something for everyone here,” he concluded. More information about PrintCity you find under www.printcity.de.