MARCH 28, 2003 -- Printcafe Software, Inc., MAN Roland and Komori America Corporation today announced they are jointly hosting a breakfast seminar at the annual VuePoint conference in Washington, D.C, on the morning of April 2nd. Entitled: "CIM: Connecting the Shop Floor Over Breakfast," the seminar features the joint participation of the three companies, along with a panel of customers in a discussion about the benefits of Computer Integrated Manufacturing. The seminar will examine the ways Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) can help printers guard against the trend of downward profit margins, and how it can connect the disparate processes in management and production to enable printers to manufacture more efficiently and profitably. "We are working with Komori and MAN Roland to leverage the new CIP4/JDF standard and integrate our solutions so that Computer Integrated Manufacturing becomes a reality in the printing industry," said Andy Schaer, senior vice president of marketing at Printcafe. "The fact that two of the leading press manufacturers are appearing together at this event demonstrates their absolute commient to this important industry-wide initiative." "The graphic arts have shied away from CIM because every assignment a printer gets involves the creation of a customized product," says Christian Cerfontaine, director of marketing at MAN Roland Inc. "Today's advanced control and automation systems, like PECOM, can help the printer meet the custom requirements of every job, while taking advantage of the cost-effective benefits of CIM." Printcafe will look at the role of an integrated management system in a CIM environment, and discuss how it is leveraging the new JDF standard to connect its systems to Komori and MAN Roland presses. The use of Printcafe's Auto-Count tools will enable printers to benefit from CIM by retrofitting their existing presses to capture costs, performance, downtime and other events directly from the production equipment, eliminating manual processes and providing accurate real-time production data. MAN Roland will present its PECOM press operating and automation system, and relate how it brings the advantages of CIM to the pressroom. Emphasis will be placed on the advanced PECOM modules JobPilot and PressMonitor, with success stories featuring printers who use the software to reduce make-readies and increase pressroom productivity. MAN Roland will also discuss the importance of digitally driven mechanical advancements in the CIM workflow including innovations such as Automated Plate Loading and QuickStart. Komori will present Total Print Integration, their customer driven, open architecture approach to pressroom integration. "Komori believes that as the graphic arts industry embraces the CIM business model, it is important that printers have the flexibility to design a workflow solution that best fits their needs. TPI provides Komori users the integration tools necessary to maximize their productivity," says Jacki Hudmon, General Manager, Komori Imaging Systems. Komori will discuss the components of TPI, including the Lithrone press; K-Station, the cornerstone of Komori's JDF implementation; and Color Connection, a suite of software tools that facilitates the connectivity of prepress to press. The seminar also features a panel of customers from the three companies, who will discuss how they are connecting their Printcafe print management system with production equipment from MAN Roland or Komori for a single integrated workflow, and greater visibility into their business. VuePoint takes place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, in Washington, D.C. from March 31-April 2. The breakfast seminar will be held on Wednesday, April 2 in the Empire Room from 7:30-8:45 am and is open to all conference attendees.