Memphis, TN - The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization announced the 2010 winners of the Jürgen Schönhut Memorial CIP4 International Print Production Innovation (CIPPI) Awards at a luncheon event during Printing Industries of America's Converge Conference. The CIPPI awards are given annually to the printer, publisher or prepress service who applies with the most compelling case study in three topical categories and four regions. The winners are:
- Best cost/benefit realization and improvement in efficiency as a result of process automation implementation
    o First Place - Vögeli AG Druckzentrum of Langnau, Switzerland
    o Second Place - Times Printers Pte Ltd. of Singapore
- Biggest improvement in quality production & customer responsiveness as a result of process automation
    o First Place - Associates International, Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware, USA
    o Second Place - Canon Print Square, Inc. of Shinagawa, Japan
- Most innovative use of process automation technology in an implementation
    o Ten Brink/Hooiberg Haasbeek of Meppel, The Netherlands  
- Best Digital Printing Process Automation
    o Canon Print Square, Inc. of Shinagawa, Japan
- Best Process Automation Implementation - Asia/Pacific
    o Times Printers Pte Ltd,, of Singapore
- Best Process Automation Implementation - Europe
    o Ten Brink/Hooiberg Haasbeek of Meppel, The Netherlands  
- Best Process Automation Implementation - North America
    o JP Graphics, Inc. of Appleton, Wisconsin, USA

Any printer, prepress service or publisher may apply for the CIPPI awards. Awards are determined by a Review Panel of judges without affiliation to any vendor, printer, prepress service or publisher. The four Review Panel judges are:
- Patrick Cahuet of 1Prime|Concept (France)
- Stephan Jaeggi of PrePress-Consulting (Switzerland)
- Tetsuo Kimura of PrinTechno, Inc. (Japan)
- John Leininger of Clemson University (USA)

Two of the winners, Associates International and Canon Print Square, are digital printers who have combined digital printing, web-to-print, and JDF-enabled automation to produce a dramatic effect. "Both Canon Print Square and Associates International have given us examples of what the printer of the future will look like," said CIPPI Award Judge Patrick Cahuet.  "Associates stated that their goal was 'lights out production,' and while both companies still maintain staff,  their productivity and labor savings clearly demonstrate that there is a way to increase efficiency and profitability during difficult economic times."

The winners with conventional printing operations also demonstrated focus on the bottom line. "One of the things that I liked about the Vögeli case study was its 'no nonsense' approach to calculating ROI," said CIP4 Executive Director Jim Harvey. "In certain applications it is hard to distinguish whether contributions to the bottom line came from new equipment purchases or the implementation of JDF-enabled automation. The folks at Vögeli were very clear to make that distinction and produced an ROI calculation that other printers can learn from."

The 2010 CIPPI award-winning case studies may be downloaded from: www.cip4.org/cippi/ where you can also get more information on the CIPPI awards program. (Summaries of each winning case study can be found in the section below.) Press representatives who wish to interview CIPPI Award winners can write to Jim Harvey at [email protected] to request contact information.