Komori America

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor With all the talk of excess capacity and declining sales, why would any printer consider buying a new press? First, the obvious reason. Capacity on an industry-wide level doesn't necessarily mirror the situation in a local market or any given company. There also is a more subtle rational that has grown in importance with the changes in business conditions. The pressures of a highly competitive market make it even more critical for a shop to have the right kind of capacity. Production efficiency and flexibility are more important than gross capacity. Sheetfed offset presses used to break down fairly

Enovation Graphic Systems announced it has integrated Fuji Photo Film U.S.A.'s Graphic Systems Division into Enovation's current organization. In other news, Enovation has appointed regional sales vice presidents for its four recently realigned sales territories. Tim Young, formerly president of Nelson-Keystone and recently announced as southwest regional director for Enovation, is now regional sales vice president, West. The West sales region includes 10 western states. John Solwold, formerly Enovation's west regional vice president, is responsible for the new Central sales region. The Central sales region includes 11 central and mountain states. Joe Thornhill, formerly president of Taylor Impression, is now regional sales vice president

By Mark Smith Mature used to be a polite way of saying old and on the brink of decline, if not already sliding down the hill. By introducing a culture of healthier eating, regular exercise and improved medical care, the baby boom generation has shattered perceptions about aging. Consider that 40ish baseball and football players now are being given multi-year contract extensions. So what should one read into the fact that web offset printing often is referred to as a mature technology and industry? For the technology, it's a testament to the quality, strength and relative stability of the process. Still, it is possible

German Trainer Comes to Jersey WESTAMPTON, NJ—Dietmar Block, technical advisor from the Wohlenberg paper cutter factory in Germany, recently held a five-day, in-depth training course here at the headquarters of MBO America to help keep the company's technicians up-to-date on the latest paper cutting techniques. Komori America has consolidated the Komori HRB and Komori Midwest sales territories. Mike VanCalbergh, vice president of sales, Midwest region, now manages the new territory, which covers Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and western Pennsylvania. Dr. Horst Steppat is now responsible for R&D and service at basysPrint in Germany. In his

Ricoh Corp. has aligned with UNIX and Linux software developer Codehost Inc. Ricoh will offer its customers and dealers BrightQT, Codehost's suite of Linux and UNIX-based printing tools, for use with Ricoh networked output devices. Creo Inc. has received ISO-14001:1996 certification for environmental management of its Canadian operations. This completes environmental management certification for both of the Creo design and manufacturing operations. Creo operations in Israel recently underwent recertification for ISO-14001—a standard first achieved in February 2001. KBA North America has promoted Evan Heise as its sales representative for a six-state region, including Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and New Mexico. Heise is now

By Erik Cagle Imagine the phone rings and it's a potential customer. This person wants a short run of books, but has never purchased printing before and knows nothing about the process. Nor does the client have any background in publishing. It's a single print job with no follow-up editions. This customer isn't exactly sure what he/she wants, but it should be memorable enough to please readers. Oh, and your customer is a group of teenagers, accompanied by an advisor. And, in a year, those teenagers will be replaced by another group of kids with absolutely no background in publishing. Now, imagine that

By Erik Cagle Here's a look at the latest manufacturer offerings for small- and medium-size sheetfed offset presses in up to 23 x 29˝ formats: The A.B.Dick 4995A-ICS with ink control system offers the benefits of a four-tower portrait press for printers looking to step up to four-color process work. Digitally compatible with CTP systems (such as A.B.Dick's DPM line), this automated press with a maximum sheet size of 13.4 x 17.75˝ increases short- and long-run productivity, provides consistent and repeatable quality and accommodates polyester or metal plates. Features include the ink control system, which delivers consistent ink balance while reducing labor setup

NILES, IL—The JohnsByrne Co. reportedly has become the first printer to successfully implement computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), thanks to the implementation work done by Creo, Printcafe and Komori America. "Our vision has always been to be a turnkey business, handling every aspect of the printing process, taking a job from prepress through to fulfillment," says Corey Gustafson, president of JohnsByrne, which reports annual sales in excess of $20 million. JohnsByrne's fully integrated system now ties estimating, scheduling, the creative desktop, digital halftone proofing, computer-to-plate imaging, prepress production data, press and finishing processes to its Printcafe management information system in a single, streamlined workflow. "When we

NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies elected three new directors at its annual meeting in October. The new directors, elected to three-year terms expiring at the 2005 annual meeting, are: H.A. Brandtjen III, president, Brandtjen & Kluge, St. Croix Falls, WI; John Hamm, vice president of marketing, Xerox Corp., Worldwide Graphic Arts Business, McLean, VA; and Juergen Stolt, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Pantone Inc., Carlstadt, NJ. In addition, Edward McLoughlin, president of Oxy-Dry Corp., and Prime UV Systems received the 2002 Harold W. Gegenheimer Awards for Industry Service at the NPES conference. Enovation Graphic Systems has named Paul

CHICAGO—The engines were roaring and the crowd was applauding at the Segerdahl Graphics open house held at the company’s new 90,000-square-foot facility recently. The new facility is the final step in Segerdahl merging its three individual companies, Columbia Graphics, e-PreMedia Services and Falcon Communications, earlier this year. The open house event featured a racing theme to emphasize the company’s “high-performance services, finely tuned ideas and solutions, as well as speedy turnarounds on customer projects.” The event featured a series of eight seminars on four subjects critical to the success of any printing project. Industry experts from Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Komori America, Stora Enso and Segerdahl Graphics’ own