APEtc.

Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM

From margarine to monochrome and color digital printing

AMERICAN PRINTER is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. But even we can't top Océ (Boca Raton, FL). The 131-year-old company traces its roots to Dutch pharmacist Lodewijk Van der Grinten. It all began in 1877, when Van der Grinten began manufacturing a coloring for margarine.

Van der Grinten's grandson, Louis, was instrumental in the company's reprographics transition. He invented a new ammonia-free diazo process for copying technical drawings that was less expensive and more ecofriendly than the existing process. Known as “O.C.” ( short for Ohne Componente), the Océ diazo technology helped the emerging copying company become a leading provider of monochrome printing systems.

In the 1960s, Océ developed the Copy Press, which incorporated a direct-toner transfer process. These days, the company is best known for digital presses, particularly among book printers. Océ's largest digital book printers can print more than six million digital books on demand every month.

The Van der Grinten Symposium was the cornerstone of the company's anniversary celebration this past October. It was held at the Maaspoort Theater in Venlo and examined the importance of innovation from technical, economic and societal perspectives.

See www.oce.com.

See you there!

Celebrating its sixth year, AMERICAN PRINTER's Variables 2008 is designed to help you run a profitable and successful variable-data printing operation and will focus on the latest business and technical issues involved in variable-data printing. Whether you are new to or experienced with personalization, Variables 2008 offers sessions that will improve the knowledge and skills needed for variable-data printing success at your business.

Conference highlights will include: success stories on marketing variable-data printing; opportunities in Web to print; the power of databases; partnering with the USPS; implementing practical sales strategies; an evening roundtable; and vendor technology showcase.

VARIABLES 2008 runs from Thursday, July 17, to Friday, July 18, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.

See http://variables.americanprinter.com.

Got a milestone to share?

Readers, how about you? Are you celebrating a special anniversary? Drop us a line at KOB@americanprinter.com. Join our celebration!

Resource Center