Industry News

Jan 1, 2006 12:00 AM, AP staff

News from: Grey House, Mohawk Fine Papers, WPT, Markzware, Dow Industries, Quickcut, Norgren, Premier Co., CMP Media, Ben Franklin Society of PIA/GATF, Interquest, MAN Roland, MATLET Group, Heidelberg, KBA North America, Xerox, Print Council, Quad/Graphics, F.C.L. Graphics, Presstek, and people in the news.

Hot Topics, Management, Newsmakers

TIDBITS…
» Grey House has purchased Grey House Publishing and Impact Publishing’s Rauch Guides, including The Rauch Guide to the U.S. Ink Industry. See www.greyhouse.com.

» Mohawk Fine Papers ranks 13th among the EPA’s List of Top 25 U.S. Green Power Purchases. It is among four additions to the list.

» The Worldwide Printing Thermographers Assn. (WPT) has announced the winners of its “Excellence in Thermography” contest, the FREDDIES. Ink & Paper Magic Makers won the 2005 Fred Nicotera Award for “Best of the Best,” acknowledging “Excellence in Ensemble of Letterheads, Envelopes and Business Cards Thermographed with an Additional Process.” For a complete list of winners, see www.thermographers.org.

» Markzware has donated 600 copies of FlightCheck Studio and 500 copies of FlightCheck Professional to the University of the Arts (Philadelphia).

» Dow Industries won the 2005 “Best of Show Award” at the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) Awards Competition. This is the second time in three years Dow has won “Best of Show.”

» Quickcut has moved its North American headquarters. The new address is: 56 E. Main St., Ste. 200, Ventura, CA 93001.

» Norgren offers a new white paper, “A designer’s guide to effective air preparation.” The paper offers guidance on the correct, economic and safe treatment of compressed air in industrial applications. Download the white paper at www.norgren.com.

» Happy Anniversary to the Premier Co., celebrating 80 years in the printing, mailing and fulfillment business.

» CMP Media LLC’s Information Week 500 has ranked Lanier Worldwide 67th in its listing of U.S. innovative users of information technology.

Ash Khan Society, Society of Fellows found The Ben Franklin Society of PIA/GATF
The Ash Khan Society (AKS) of PIA and the Society of Fellows (SOF) of GATF have merged to form The Ben Franklin Society of PIA/GATF.

The officers for the new Ben Franklin Society are Robert E. Murphy, chairman; Kent Martin, vice chairman; William Evans, secretary; and Ted C. Ringman, treasurer. The society recognizes and honors industry leaders who have made lasting contributions to the printing and graphic communications industries. This includes, but is not limited to, the Printing Industries of America (PIA) and its affiliates, the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF), and the Print & Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF).

There are 305 members of the new Ben Franklin Society, 27 of which had overlapping memberships in both organizations. The organizations’ scholarships remain under their original agreements and it is hoped that a third scholarship will be created for the new society. The Ben Franklin Society will continue to sponsor the Naomi Berber Memorial Award and the Frederick D. Kagy Award of Excellence programs presented annually by the former Society of Fellows.

Interquest reports on digital book market
Interquest Ltd. (Charlottesville, VA) has published research focused on digital book and manual printing in North America and Europe. “The Digital Book & Manual Printing Opportunity: Market Analysis & Forecast” examines market and technology trends, challenges, and the future for digital book and manual printing. It is based on in-depth surveys of book printers and publishers in the United States and Europe.

The report analyzes the conventional book printing market and the current state of manual printing, with a particular emphasis on trends that will shape the future growth and characteristics of the market. According to Interquest, manuals face more competition from electronic media than conventional book printing, and key growth opportunities for manual printing lie in the use of color, versioning and personalization. The 200+ page report costs $1,095.

See www.inter-quest.com/DigBookPrintingOpportunity.html.

ROLAND 500 now offers inline perfecting
MAN Roland (Westmont, IL) has expanded its high-performance press range in the 50 x 70-cm format. The ROLAND 500 now features an InlinePerfector for straight printing or perfecting.

The company says the ROLAND 500 with InlinePerfector provides premium performance in eight-page perfected printing, not only because of its 15,000-sph maximum speed in perfecting mode but also because of its concept and design. The space requirement is the same as a ROLAND 500 without a perfecting system, thanks to the single-drum sheet turning system. And OptiPrint jackets for the impression cylinders downstream of the sheet turning station meet the demand for uniformly high print quality on both sides of the sheet.

By printing both sides of the sheet in one pass, users benefit from much shorter job turnaround times and streamlined production processes.

Worzalla buys North America’s first ROLAND 500 perfector
The first ROLAND 500 perfector in North America is destined for Worzalla (Stevens Point, WI), one of the nation’s leading book manufacturers. The company will be printing and coating four-color book covers and jackets on the inaugural 29-inch press in its 300,000-sq.-ft. facility.

Worzalla will install its new press in April. It will offer five printing units for 4/1 perfecting or straight five-color jobs. A UV-capable double-coating unit will add to its single-pass productivity. The combination of perfecting and coating is expected to save Worzalla considerable time and money.

Former Quebecor exec forms new company
The MATLET Group LLC (Pawtucket, RI) recently announced the purchase of five U.S.-based facilities owned by Quebecor World, Inc. Formed by Gary Stiffler, former executive vice president of Quebecor World’s Commercial division, along with two private investors, the group confirmed the $70 million platform buyout that will restore local ownership to commercial printing facilities.
Company names pre-dating Quebecor World ownership were restored to four of the five locations:

Acme Printing Co. (Wilmington, MA): Francis Canzano is president, George (Gidge) Farraher is vice president and GM, and Chuck Colvin is vice president of sales.
Central Florida Press (Orlando, FL): Greg Orlando is president with John Glick as senior vice president of sales and business development.
Nova Marketing Services (St. Louis): Kathy Abbett is president with Rocky Abbett as national account executive.
Packaging Graphics (Pawtucket, RI): Nicholas Carafa is president with Gregory Iannuccillo as vice president of sales. The Detroit facility will be known as Premedia Services of Detroit, with 20-year veteran Dave Mechem as president.

The five facilities generate combined annual sales of approximately $135 million and employ more than 600 people, producing premium catalogs, magazines, inserts, blister card and folding carton packaging, dining menus, annual reports and other collateral materials.

Staff levels will remain nearly identical for each facility. Says Stiffler, “The MATLET Group partners understand that there are two primary ingredients for success in this business: capital investment in the latest technology and having highly skilled and motivated individuals to operate that equipment.”

Heidelberg Packaging hosts open house
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG has been hosting “Packaging Days” at its Postpress Inforum in Mönchengladbach, Germany, since October 2005. With the four die cutters and five folder/gluers on display, the company shows customers and prospective buyers from all over the world the value-added possibilities of folding carton production.

The program of events is ongoing through February 2006.

See www.heidelberg.com.

KBA integrates with EFI on MIS
KBA North America (Williston, VT) has completed the integration of its Logotronic management system with EFI’s 22.05 version of Logic. Future plans include all management information system (MIS) solutions offered by EFI.

“By forming this partnership with EFI, EFI Logic and KBA Logotronic customers will be able to communicate in a bidirectional manner, where the Logic system will provide an electronic job ticket to the press, enabling automation in the setup of the press. Logotronic will report job status and production transactions back to the MIS,” says Crystal Flutur, KBA’s product specialist for Logotronic, Densitronic and Qualitronic systems.

Both companies are members of the CIP4 organization supporting the move toward more open and standard systems integration throughout the print industry.

Happy birthday, DocuTech
Xerox Corp. (Rochester, NY) is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the DocuTech’s launch. The monochrome DocuTech made its debut in October 1990, opening a market for print providers to produce copies from digital files, on demand. Today’s 100- to 180-ppm DocuTechs can print up to 141 lpi on sheets from lightweight to coated sized as large as 14.33 x 19.2 inches. Enhanced data support enables the machine to integrate with any printing environment from an offset plant to a digital data center.

Cooper to head Print Council
The Print Council (Greenwich, CT) has appointed Ben Cooper as its executive director. Martin Maloney has completed his one-year commitment as the organization’s executive director and will serve on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, which governs the actions of The Print Council.

Cooper joins The Print Council from the Printing Industries of America where he was executive vice president for public affairs, a post he held since January 1981. He joined PIA/GATF in July 1978 as a government affairs specialist and guided the organization’s lobbying efforts to shape legislation affecting the printing industry. He also directed the operation of the PIA/GATF’s Human Relations department.

Quad/Graphics lands $1B contract renewal from Time
Quad/Graphics (Pewaukee, WI) has renewed its long-standing business relationship with publisher Time Inc. (New York), signing a $1.1 billion agreement for the continued production of 22 titles through 2013. The titles under the agreement are Time, Sports Illustrated, SI for Kids, People, Teen People, Entertainment Weekly, Fortune Small Business, Business 2.0, Cottage Living, Parenting, Baby Talk, Health, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Travel + Leisure Family, Sunset, Field & Stream, Golf, Popular Science, Outdoor Life, Ski and Skiing.

As part of the agreement, Quad/Graphics also will print additional copies of Time, Sports Illustrated and People at the company’s two-year-old Oklahoma City plant beginning in January 2007. Quad/Graphics will expand its 2 x 8 web offset press and selective saddlestitching capabilities in Oklahoma City to accommodate the new work and will create 50 or more new jobs there.

Time Inc. cited Quad/Graphics’ advanced manufacturing platform and capabilities, as well as its commitment to technological innovation, as primary reasons for awarding the new and renewed work.

F.C.L. Graphics expands Printing Service capabilities with acquisition of The Graphics Group
F.C.L. Graphics (Harwood Heights, IL), a full-service printing company and one of the nation’s largest direct marketing printers, has announced the acquisition of certain assets, for an undisclosed amount, of regional sheetfed printer The Graphics Group (Bensenville, IL).

With enhanced prepress and print capabilities, and Internet-based print management systems, the combined companies now offer solutions to a broader range of customer needs and have a greater opportunity to grow into new markets.

“F.C.L. Graphics’ acquisition of The Graphics Group is a strategic decision that will enable us to offer our customers a comprehensive range of printing services at competitive prices,” says Ken Menconi, president of F.C.L. Graphics.

100 WORDS OR LESS:
What is the key to recruiting and retaining top employees?
“A company has a covenant with its employees, and that covenant has evolved and changed over the years as conditions in the economy and the workplace have evolved and changed. In today’s world, it is a covenant of mutual value in which loyalty is earned on both sides. Gone are the days in which tenure and loyalty were nearly synonymous. These days, companies must earn employee loyalty every day, and employees must earn the respect, trust, and loyalty of their employers. That covenant needs to be constantly reinforced and cultivated to both attract and retain top employees.”
—Edward J. Marino, president and CEO, Presstek Inc. (Hudson, NH)

Cultivating employee loyalty
NAPL recently published Marino’s “The Loyalty Payoff: Building Loyalty to Boost the Bottom Line.” He uses case studies and his own experiences to demonstrate how cultivating loyalty among employees impacts profitability. The book provides customer surveys and other tools readers can use to develop a loyalty culture within their own organizations. It costs $29.95 for NAPL members; $39.95 for nonmembers.

See www.napl.org/store or call (800) 642-6275.

PEOPLE

Digicon Imaging (Buffalo, NY) has named Amy Houston as sales consultant.
Daniel Siewert is GM of MAN Roland’s (Atlanta, GA) Southern region, responsible for the territory that ranges from North Carolina to Texas.
Domino Amjet (Gurnee, IL) has appointed RFID specialist Gary Page to its newly created position of business development manager for the U.S.
Bill Owens has been appointed director of marketing for Xitron (Ann Arbor, MI) while Eric Nelsen becomes product manager, Navigator Solutions.
Peter Doyle joins Hi-Liter Graphics (Burlington, WI) as vice president of marketing.
Graphics Microsystems, Inc. (GMI) (Sunnyvale, CA) has appointed Gary Wetzel as president and CEO.
Kodak's Graphic Communications Group (GCG) (Rochester, NY) has appointed Isidre Rosello GM and vice president of its Transaction & Industrial Solutions (T&IS) operating unit. He replaces Nachum “Homi” Shamir.
Southeastern Printing (Stuart, FL) announces the following personnel changes: Chris Cavaretti, vice president; Diana Gannon, chief financial officer; Joanie Lotze, marketing manager; Patricia Turner, GM, Blue Water Printing.
EPG (Essex Products Group) (Centerbrook, CT) has named Helga Kollegger as sales administrator.
Robert Snavely has joined Service Web Offset Corp. (Chicago) as director of new business development.
Xinet (Berkeley, CA) has named Cynthia Ahart Wood as director of marketing.