WhatTheyThink webinar, sponsored by EFI, features Modern Litho’s Amazing Automation Story

Lexington, Kentucky USA -- WhatTheyThink today announced the opportunity for industry professionals to attend a free printing industry educational webinar. Turnkey Pathway to Profits: The Modern Litho Story. The session will be led by WhatTheyThink Senior Editor Cary Sherburne and held Wednesday, May 11th, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm EDT (-4 GMT). This very special session features Jim Tomblinson, Director of Operations for Modern Litho and Brown Printing, who developed the first MIS system to run bi-directionally throughout the plant. Modern Litho was the first company in the United States to implement EFI’s Monarch Suite running through Kodak’s Prinergy/Insite system and plating jobs through automation.

No-charge registration is available at the webinar registration page.

“The Modern Litho story is incredible,” said Sherburne, “and Jim and his team deserve a great deal of credit for what they have achieved in the past two years. They have been able to realize near lights-out automation in many portions of the production process, while at the same time raising the bar on the level of customer service they can deliver. For anyone in the printing business not yet fully automated, this is a story you must hear. There are valuable take-aways for everyone, and the opportunity to ask Jim questions during the session will be invaluable.”

Lights-out automation has been the Holy Grail of the printing industry since JDF came on the scene more than a decade ago.  To date, a relatively small percentage of printing operations is taking advantage of the full automation capabilities available to them. This results in a higher cost  base and can affect the quality of the customer experience. By listening to the Modern Litho story, printing executives can get facts from a respected peer that will help them make decisions about their own automation efforts.

“Our primary intent was to eliminate paper job tickets,” said Tomblinson. “We did that, and it caused a domino effect throughout the entire plant, making jobs run through smoothly, almost always without a hitch. And for our publication customers, proofs are delivered within 10 minutes of upload, eliminating days of cycle time that were required when we had to ship paper proofs back and forth. We have also been able to respond to requests for quotes much faster. Since many customers act on the firsgt quote(s) they receive, this has helped our business as well. This has been a revolutionary transformation for Modern Litho in a very short time period.”

According to a Modern Litho customer, “Modern Litho Print Co.'s page automation process has made a night-and-day difference in uploading and proofing our magazine, Auctioneer, the official publication for members of the National Auctioneers Association. The simple steps Modern Litho set up for the upload, and the way in which we're able to send corrected pages, has dramatically sped up our production process. We are now sending all pages and corrections in about half a day, and Modern seems to have our magazine on the press in record time following our approval of pages ... We have shaved at least three days off of the production cycle, something that makes our publication more timely, and most importantly, our members happy.”

“We appreciate the generosity of Modern Litho in sharing their automation experiences,” said Randy Davidson, President, WhatTheyThink, “Any tools or techniques that can make an organization more cost-efficient and ensure heightened quality should be explored, and Modern Litho has covered just about everything.  We are also pleased that EFI is sponsoring this event, allowing us to offer this important educational session to attendees at no cost.”

Attendees will be able to participate in a live question and answer session to get the most from the experience and will be able to view and listen to the presentation using a standard Internet browser with audio streamed via computer.

About EFI

EFI (www.efi.com) is a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation. EFI's award-winning solutions, integrated from creation to print, deliver increased performance, cost savings and productivity. The company's robust product portfolio includes Fiery ® digital color print servers; VUTEk® superwide digital inkjet printers, UV and solvent inks; Rastek™ UV wide-format inkjet printers; Jetrion® industrial inkjet printing systems; print production workflow and management information software; and corporate printing solutions.

About WhatTheyThink

WhatTheyThink is the printing and publishing industry's leading media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. Independent studies rank WhatTheyThink as the one industry website that contains the most interesting articles, according to 58.2% of senior printing executives, and the one website most frequently chosen as the “Must Visit and Read.” WhatTheyThink also hosts webinars and live events as well as providing content through a syndication program, which delivers content directly to related websites. In addition, WhatTheyThink offers a wide range of lead generation and branding programs that help print- and publishing-related businesses achieve business growth.

For more information about partnering with WhatTheyThink, contact [email protected] or [email protected].