Announced in January as a collaboration between MIS developer Prograph and Creo Products, printCafe offers on-line transaction management between printers, print buyers and materials suppliers. "We are the glue between printers and customers in all facets of the business," said Nick Orem, senior vp international at printCafe. He claimed that the company has already taken sales bookings worth $13 million, with printCafe listing 22 mainly North American printers and suppliers which have signed contracts to use the service.
PrintCafes series of takeovers of four other large MIS developers early this year gives it the largest number of MIS users worldwide. PrintCafe now owns the standards of the MIS enterprise system, claimed Amos Michelson, CEO of Creo Products speaking at Drupa.
Robert Berkeley, MD of printCafe Europe, said that it will be run from the Windsor office that printCafe acquired with its takeover of MIS supplier Logic, with a planned sales office in the Benelux area. Hclaimed that printCafe already reaches potential customers in 24 countries and 18 languages thanks to its ownership of the five established MIS developers. "Via CreoScitex we can reach out to a global market," he added.
Time Warner started a trial use of the printCafe system last week, sending 400 jobs to 575 of its printers (using basic e-mail communications rather than the planned web browser system, as most of the printers are not signed up to printCafe).
Mail-Well, the US direct mail specialist which claims to be North America's largest commercial printing group, has signed up its 140 print plants in the USA and UK to use printCafe.
President Paul V. Reilly said that printCafe was chosen because of its scope: "The functionality allows our customers to integrate via e-commerce from design to print. The business model lets a user get the costs right." He added that e-commerce means that all 140 sites "can put one face in front of all our customers." President Paul V. Reilly said that printCafe was chosen because of its scope: "the functionality allows our customers to integrate via e-commerce from design to print. The business model lets a user get the costs right." He added that e-commerce means that all 140 sites "can put one face in front of all our customers."
At Drupa Conde Nast Publications' production director Jasper Scott announced that his company will adopt printCafe's on-line service. "We're expanding internationally now, and printCafe's global presence is important to me. I had to chose between a number of similar services, and I felt that this was the only choice to make. PrintCafe really understands the relationship between printers and customers."
Orem remained cagey about the precise costs of using printCafe, but disclosed that printers will pay a flat fee equivalent to a subscription, with no incremental or job related charges. "Pricing is based on the ROI, our fees are related to the value we return to our customers," he said, which indicates that fees are negotiable depending on the size of the user. Print buyers will typically pay a set-up fee plus a user fee depending on access, he said.
More controversial was printCafe's announcement of its own open interface standard PCX, which appears to clash with the multi-vendor CIP3 committee's move to promote the new JDF (Job Definition File) as a single industry-wide job ticketing standard (see separate story).
Story by Simon Eccles
