ACROSS the nation

CRYSTAL LAKE—A co-mail service for standard mail customers has been introduced by Waseca, MN-based Brown Printing at its co-mail facility here.

DECATUR—Two new KBA presses have been purchased by Huston Patterson. A six-color, 56˝ Rapida with aqueous coater will be located in the company’s facility here, while a six-color, 40˝ press with UV and aqueous coating capabilities will be delivered to its Sigma Graphics plant in Ottawa, IL.

NILES—SKM Print, a direct mail provider, has invested in a new eight-color Muller Martini Concepta variable size web offset press with sheeter and G.E.C. rewind.

IOWA

WEST BRANCH—An expansion project is now underway at Tidewater Direct, where the printer’s 20,000-square-foot facility will grow to 32,000 square feet and provide additional inventory management and production space to serve customers’ direct mail component needs.

MASSACHUSETTS

PITTSFIELD—Arrow Press used to outsource its larger run process color jobs, but with the recent installation of its new four-color, 29˝ Komori SPICA convertible perfector with automatic ink key setting, the printer is now able to do that work in-house.

MICHIGAN

GRAND RAPIDS—From producing candy and cosmetics packaging to diecut products for car dealerships, Graphic Specialties will be taking advantage of its new 40˝ Kluge V-10 Series foil stamping, embossing and diecutting press.

LIVONIA—Valassis purchased a four-unit Goss Sunday 2000 web press for its Anderson Printing Division here. The 24-page gapless press will be equipped with a Goss Contiweb CS splicer, Ecocool dryer with integrated chill rolls, PFF-3 pinless folder, semi-automatic plate changers and Omnicon controls.

MINNESOTA

MINNETONKA—Production has increased for Wallace Carlson, a full-service commercial printer servicing the Twin Cities, since it purchased a new six-color, 40˝ Mitsubishi Diamond 3000S press with coater.

MISSOURI

KANSAS CITY—DST Output, which provides printing and electronic statement billing solutions, earned certification in the USPS Mail Preparation Total Quality Management (MPTQM) program for its facility here, in El Dorado Hills, CA, and in Hartford, CT.