Our guess is…probably not. But because technology is a big part of the production process, more than 30 Lane Press customers—publishers and production managers—attended our Publishers’ Technology Roundtable in New York City on August 16, 2005. The event was held in conjunction with the arrival of the canal schooner Lois McClure in Manhattan, the final destination on her journey from Vermont.  The Technology Roundtable began with an afternoon meeting at the Embassy Suites Hotel located on the waterfront in Lower Manhattan's Battery Park area in the heart of the New York financial district. After the meeting, there was a reception aboard the Lois McClure, which was docked nearby at the North Cove.

The Roundtable Program included a presentation from Barbara Hanapole, president of B2 Marketing whose clients include the CIP4 Organization, an industry group chartered with developing Job Definition Format (JDF), PODi, the Print on Demand initiative, and the Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications (DDAP) and SWOP network groups of IDEAlliance. Hanapole is the former executive director of DDAP and SWOP, Inc. and continues to advance the work she began with these organizations through the promotion of and adherence to standards for the publication printing industry. Hanapole focused on the role of standards for streamlining publishing efficiencies including digital image standards, soft proofing, color management and JDF as they relate to ensuring the quality output and achieving business efficiencies in publishing.

ARTnews Production Director Laura McLaughlin commented on the value of the presentation by Hanapole. “Hanapole's discussion was a great starting point for the roundtable because we were all immediately thinking about an industry-wide movement rather than one printer's opinion (as valuable as that may be). I took special note of the DISC standards for digital photography. As a production person these standards are invaluable when working with clients. When I am asking for certain necessary elements (such as a standard color proof) I can refer to a long-accepted point of reference. I also guide clients to the SWOP website so that they can learn more about what I'm asking for and why. It gives us both a comfort level as far as meeting expectations in terms of color.”

Hanapole said that the key to reducing errors and manual intervention is through the use of standards. She said each process owner must be responsible for the quality of their output and to consider the earliest possible upstream preflighting because the earlier problems are detected, the cheaper they are to resolve.

“Put tools in the hands of the file creators so that ‘error catchers’ become ‘error fixers’,” said Hanapole. “ Standards are the key enabler and solution to many print production issues and to understand them is to benefit from them.”

Peter Joslin, Lane Press prepress manager, continued the discussion by presenting two case studies of customers who have moved a PDF and soft proofing workflow and the benefits that have been achieved as a result.