Von Hoffmann Corp.

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor The book printing industry in America cannot live on Harry Potter's whimsy and Oprah Winfrey's blessings to survive in an environment that's losing share to overseas competition. Hit titles such as the J.K. Rowling line of Potter tomes, and the popularity heft that the afternoon talk show queen can put behind a new or backlisted work, can create a stir in both the publishing and printing industries. What the leading book manufacturers from our Printing Impressions 400 are looking for is consistency from the educational market. Top 10 Book Printers  CompanySegmentSales(millions)TotalSales(millions) 1Quebecor WorldMontreal$704$6,400 2RR DonnelleyChicago$656$8,204 3Banta

By Noelle Skodzinski It's not likely a big surprise that Quebecor World held fast to its No. 1 spot among the Top Book Manufacturers—ranked by book manufacturing revenues—in the United States and Canada. With a $36 million lead over RR Donnelley, and a $273 million lead over third-ranked Von Hoffmann Corp., Quebecor World isn't likely to lose its position anytime soon. Both top seeds, however, saw book sales drop in 2003. In fact, revenues for three of the top five sank by a total of nearly $130 million. Arvato Print USA (a division of Bertelsmann) and Von Hoffmann were the only two in

BY MARK SMITH Since the earliest days of computing, technology gurus have espoused a grand vision for a digitally interconnected future. The full potential of electronics and automation will only be realized if people and data are not kept captive in isolated systems, they've said. Making individual processes digital—or creating "islands of automation"—increases productivity, but is just the first step. Computer-integrated manufacturing is supposed to be the ultimate goal. The manifestation of this concept can be seen in the progression from standalone computers to systems linked via local area networks (LANs), then wide area networks (WANs) and, ultimately, the Internet. Passing information digitally