SPECTRUM 2001 CONFERENCE NOTES

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Technology at the Edge of the Universe

By:

Don Carli
President
Nima Hunter, Inc.

Don said that the reason why we want to know what is at the edge of the universe is so that we can learn what you own future is going to be … will we survive? Don proposed that the future of our industry is analog! There are few basic things that we need as a industry: Content and method of delivering that content. Content and demand for the content depend on us having a literate audience that will both produce and consume content. We as an industry are also very dependent on petroleum or oil availability. Paper manufacturing is the third largest oil consuming industry in the U.S. Inks are petroleum based, and even our delivery systems (e.g., USPS or newspaper trucks) use petroleum. Pigments like carbon black are made with oil. But oil reserves are not infinite and given current world events, we must question whether our current industry basis is sustainable.

Don suggested that we must learn to develop for today's needs without jeopardizing the future of the company or organization: this is the concept of sustainable development. A tool used by compa-nies that support sustainable development is "triple bottom-line" accounting, which provides financial data that include financial data as well as social and environmental data. Companies are beginning to employ "green procurement" methods. ISO 14000 works like ISO 9000 in that companies achieve "registration" status, but ISO 14000 provides guidelines for running environmentally friendly compa-nies. Ford, GM, and Chrysler are all beginning to require that their suppliers be ISO 14000 compliant. "This", says Carli, "extends back to the designers in that they must learn to design for the environment, which means to use design choices that are least wasteful."

Some of the key technologies that will be boosted by green trends include:

• Bio-based substrates, inks, coating and solvents (e.g., from renewable and domestic sources)
• Micro Turbines, fuel cells, etc. (e.g., decentralized energy sources.)
• Micro Electronic Machines or Nano Electronic Machines. (e.g., Ink jet heads or micro spectro-photometers. Also consider MicroVision's direct retinal imaging.)
• Bio-polymers & dendrimers · Chemical Toners (as opposed to pulverized or crushed toners)
• The semantic web (The W3C concept of a next-generation worldwide web where machines un-derstand the semantic context of information relative to other information.)
• Computational biology (e.g., project Condor uses hundreds of thousands of computers to do computational analysis on large problems that are broken down and distributed.)

Green procurement programs such as Global 2000 may have an impact on the procurement behaviors and demand for printing equipment, paper, ink, suppliers, and services. Heidelberg, Dupont, and Xerox are examples of graphic arts suppliers that have sustainability and green procurement programs in development or effect. Carli recommends that we get ahead of the problem: if the customer asks that you implement sustainability and green procurement programs, it will be too late for you to respond effectively. (Also, check out mutual funds such as "Sustainable Asset Mutual" funds (SAMs) or the Dow Sustainable Fund … Carli claims that they only invest in companies that have sustainability programs and they are beating the market.)

Don announced that he would be working with companies to address sustainability and green procurement in the industry and invited inquiries and questions to write to green-ing@nimanhunter.com.

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