Technology gamble.

• Author: Notaras, Stacy

Indiana printers weigh the odds of such new methods as waterless and seven-color printing.

In the world of printing and graphics, there are several new technological options available to companies interested in upping their ante. Some Indiana companies are taking advantage of cutting-edge products. Others are closely observing the game, waiting for the right time.

One new strategy in this high-tech game involves waterless printing. This innovation simply is lithography without the use of water. By going waterless, printers are able to reproduce images at a higher resolution. Customers marvel at the greater fidelity, consistency and color saturation that waterless is able to provide. A bonus to waterless is that as it removes chemicals from the printing process, it cuts down on air- and water-pollution concerns.

After three years of playing the waterless-printing game, Ken Priebe, CEO of Elkhart's Lithotone Inc., is proud of his company's score. One of three Indiana companies printing with this technology, Lithotone has dedicated two presses solely to waterless printing. "No one else has guts," Priebe claims. "In the future every printer will be waterless; they don't have a choice."

Bernie Lacy, vice president of sales for Litho Press in Indianapolis, says that his company began printing waterless three years ago because the "first priority was to give clients a better product for their money, and a close second was the environment." Lacy also has found waterless printing to be more successful than the conventional process when using recycled paper.

Meanwhile, technology known as high-fidelity color is a contender for the attention of players in the industry, says Jeff Bowe, vice president of Indianapolis-based Benham Press. Hi-fi color is printing "using seven, not four, colors that increase the range, adding more vibrant fire-engine reds, fluorescent greens and deep blues." By expanding their color capabilities, printers can accommodate more of their customers' needs.

This technology is more expensive, Bowe says, because of the need for extra film, plates and presses. The current trend "in advertising is still a reflection of the economy," he says. "It is still 'do more for less,' not 'less for more,' and seven-color...