Last week I visited the Print Efficiently event put on by Intelligent Finishing Systems along with partners including Apex Digital Graphics, Kodak, and Roland (the wide-format printer one). It was a really enjoyable event and boy did they fit in a lot of equipment, with all sorts of neat bits and pieces to interest visitors. Some big stuff too, although even the Ryobi 920 is a space-saving design. As the regular reader will know I am a big fan of nifty bits of kit that don’t cost the earth, so I was rather taken with a table-top punching system from Perfect Document Creation, incorporating a paper picker, a punch that can handle 40 sheets of 80gsm at a time, and a stacker/ejector, all for around £6k – and running on single-phase leccy. I also very much liked the Roland VersaCamm VS series combined with CGS Oris for producing packaging mock-ups and proofs, including metallic colours and white. This print-and-cut combo is described as being “like a Kodak Approval on steroids”, and the cost per A4 proof is just £2.50. Another interesting theme at the showcase involved integration. Vpress, Shuttleworth and Kodak were demonstrating an integrated setup from web-to-print, to MIS, to workflow. In fact, as Kelvin Bell at Vpress pointed out, it’s not so much web-to-print as web-to-finish, as it can also trigger finishing devices. Looking at the setup, a couple of other noteworthy points came to mind: printcos really should be gravitating towards suppliers who are open and willing to integrate their know-how with other third-party systems, to the benefit of the customer. It’s laudable that Vpress has published its web services API and the firm’s Tim Cox made me laugh out loud when he said: “Prinergy, Apogee, cup of tea – we don’t mind what it is,” but there is many a true word spoken in jest. If suppliers aren’t amenable to this sort of thing, one has to ask why not? This level of openness could result in a bespoke tweak to a workflow or process that enhances the level of integration, stripping out the sort of tiny element of cost that, cumulatively, makes a great big difference. Print Efficiently, indeed.