South Windsor, CT

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT—Normally, it's the printer side of the business that makes most of the news. But in recent weeks, the noise has been coming from the supplier side. Here's an overview of the changes in the supplier landscape in the past weeks: * Gerber Scientific has agreed to sell its Gerber Systems unit to BARCO Graphics, the U.S. arm of BARCO of Belgium, for an undisclosed cash payment and royalties on future sales of certain products. Gerber Systems had sales of approximately $45 million in fiscal year 1997, but had been incurring losses in the CTP business recently, Gerber officials say. Gerber's Graphic Arts

METAIRIE, LA—Greenwich, CT-based World Color Press has begun the new year leaving no doubt that it will remain a force to be reckoned with in the graphic arts industry. The biggest news is its acquisition of Century Graphics, a $128 million offset printer of retail advertising inserts based here. Century ranked 47th on Printing Impressions' recent Top 500 listing of North American printers, and is reportedly the third-largest offset printer of retail advertising inserts in the United States. World Color did not disclose the terms of this latest acquisition, which was to have been completed in February. Under the agreement, World Color acquires Century's