The first-ever MUST SEE EMS Best of Category Awards, which recognise the top new technology products in each of the competitions awards categories, were presented to winners at the close of the annual EXECUTIVE OUTLOOK Conference.
The Best of Category winners were selected from the pool of winning entries in the MUST SEE EMS competition judged by a panel of industry experts, journalists, and consultants who based their choices on the impact they believe these new technologies will have on the industry.
Changing technology is a constant in the graphic communications industry and these Best of Category selections, along with the other MUST SEE EMS winners, highlight some of the most intriguing new technology products introduced within the past year, said GASC President Ralph Nappi.
For the first time this year, MUST SEE EMS winners were announced prior to GRAPH EXPO to allow attendees to best plan in advance their show floor schedules. New as well this year was a pre-show webinar hosted by program coordinator Hal Hinderliter, who reviewed each technology in-depth and examined the rationale behind each selection. Attendees were able to factor the webinar information into their personalised GRAPH EXPO Show Planner to build a roster of exhibitors to visit, organize their time in Chicago, and print out their agenda planner to take to the show.
This years MUST SEE EMS Best of Category winners are:
- SALES AND ORDER ENTRY – EFI M500 Self-Serve Copy and Print Station which allows users to access, pay, and print in a completely self-serve environment, whether accessing files from their USB drives, mobile devices, or cloud accounts.
- PREPRESS AND PREMEDIA – Ricoh Clickable Paper, a new cross-media service enabling consumers to point an iPhone or Android smartphone at any printed surface and be automatically linked to any kind of online media.
- PRESSROOM (ANALOGUE PRESSES) – Heidelberg Prinect Image Control Next Generation, a print shop workflow that integrates and manages the entire print production process.
- PRESSROOM (DIGITAL PRESSES) – HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press, a B2 format designed to be compatible with standard sheet sizes and conventional finishing devices to provide digital print at the same quality as offset.
- PRESSROOM (WIDE-FORMAT) – Xante Excelagraphix 4200 which features Memjet Waterfall Printhead Technology that delivers more than three billion drops of ink per second, for print speeds up to eight times faster than traditional inkjet technology.
- POSTPRESS FINISHING (DIGITAL AND SMALL FORMAT) – Xerox Integrated PLUS Finishing Solution for Booklets which enables automatic job preparation and finishing to increase productivity.
- POSTPRESS FINISHING (WIDE-FORMAT) – EFI Layout Option for Fiery wide-format solution which can create advanced nestings that are set up either for minimum waste or minimising cut paths for a smoother finishing workflow.
- IMPRINTING, MAILING, SHIPPING, AND FULFILLMENT – Bowe Systec Fusion Cross, an inserting system capable of processing a wide spectrum of envelope formats and filling thicknesses while still being fast, gentle to the material, and reliable.
- MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS – EFI PrintFlow Dynamic Scheduling – Employee and Tool Constraints, a new capability which can optimise a printing companys complete schedule automatically, taking into consideration multiple, concurrent constraints.
- FUTURE PRINT – Pageflex Dynamic Media which lets users create customised in-stream and in-banner videos that speak directly to the viewer in a personalised and cost-effective way.
