Offset Printing - Web

ST. CLOUD, MN—07/05/07—The first 10-unit Rotoman press in North America has arrived at Nahan Printing, Inc. in St. Cloud, Minnesota. “After doing our research, we concluded it was the best piece of equipment for the market we serve,” states Joel Meyer, VP Sales and Marketing at Nahan Printing. The new Rotoman press from MAN Roland will help expand Nahan’s capabilities and its brand, according to Meyer. “This investment illustrates our commitment to high quality products and innovation, as well as our mission to exceed the expectations of our customers,” he says. “Tactically, it enables us to increase our product offerings, flexibility, options, and redundancy for

IN THE world of business, sometimes recognizing an unprofitable trend is as important, or perhaps more so, as spotting a lucrative one. Take the Wilen Group, a family owned and operated company based on Long Island, NY. Founded in 1972 as a publishing firm from the basement of Richard Wilen’s house, the company quickly made a name for itself as a publisher for the cable television industry and an original vendor to the cable TV circuit. In fact, it produced the first HBO guide in 1973. When the pay-per-view craze hit in the late 1980s, Wilen Group took the lead in producing booklets for

THE CLIMATE of the printing industry changes with print media competition growing, weekly news reports of consolidations, and daily challenges from a myriad of resources and technology innovations. Companies make over their names, add processes, rework their customer bases, add new mixes to their repertoire of services, and leverage the Internet and other new technologies. The industry is vibrant, exciting and changing—and we recognize this. What does not change is the need for individuals to keep abreast of the management trends, operations and production issues related to the printing and graphics community. With that as the backdrop, the board of directors of the Web Offset

FROM NEWSPAPER publisher to newspaper printer, Bartash Printing has been around the block. And, considering its location—Philadelphia—that block is pretty historic. Philadelphia is the home of America’s first and foremost printer: Ben Franklin. And, like Franklin, who started out with very little, local printer Joe Bartash started out small before hitting it big. Bartash Printing, one of the largest cold web printing companies in the Philadelphia region, was started 55 years ago by Bartash to print his weekly newspaper, the Southwest Globe Times. In 1962, Joe’s son-in-law, Sidney Simon, joined the company. During the next 45 years, Simon and his son, Michael, built the

FOR SOME, it’s a matter of survival and, fortunately, given the state of the newspaper industry, for others, it’s a matter of growth. In either case, newspaper/publication printers running coldset web offset presses are expanding their product ranges or delivering greater value to existing customers. Through increased automation, newer technologies (like UV inks), new presses, new publication configurations, or some combination of these options, printers are offering both internal and external clients production efficiencies and the opportunity to upgrade to color quality levels that have greater appeal to advertisers. Ron Magee, pressroom manager at the Carroll County Times, Westminster, MD, reports that last summer

WHAT CAN be said about the future of offset technologies? Well, plenty, and while news and views are mixed, there are many reasons to be optimistic. On the eve of the Web Offset Association’s “Offset and Beyond” 2007 55th Annual Management & Technical Conference, Printing Impressions spoke with a number of leading experts to learn where they think the offset sector is headed over the short and long term, and why. Offset Growth: An Oxymoron? Traditionally, the printing industry has tracked the GDP at a slightly higher rate. With the advent and growing popularity of color reproduction from the late 1980s through the early

MONTREAL—February 21, 2007—Today, on the same day as its annual meeting, Transcontinental announced that it has set up a division that will be responsible for developing its model for outsourced newspaper printing in North America and managing its U.S. plants in this niche. The first plant will be built in the San Francisco Bay area in order to print the San Francisco Chronicle starting in the spring of 2009. Ted Markle, who until now has been vice president of development in the Newspaper Group, has been appointed senior vice president of the new division. His core team of about ten people will be expanded

WILLISTON, VT—01/16/0—As a result of integrating the North American web and sheetfed business units into one combined entity, KBA North America has announced the following sales staff changes, effective immediately: Heinz Schmid assumes the position of senior vice president, web press sales. Gary Owen has been appointed vice president, sales and communications newspapers – regional. Bruce Richardson and Steve Brown have become sales managers, East and West, respectively. Ralf Sammeck, president and CEO of KBA North America, commented that, “The combined experience of over 100 years of our dedicated newspaper sales staff demonstrates to our customers the serious commitment that we have made to

FACING INCREASED competition from electronic alternatives and another possible jump in postal rates, players in the catalog and publication markets may have to fight for a successful future. Industry consolidation should also make tracking these segments interesting for industry watchdogs. According to “A Study and Analysis of the Future of Catalogs, 2006-2011” by PRIMIR (Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization), the North American catalog industry is in a state of disruptive change. This can be attributed to the Internet becoming more of a vital selling tool for companies that traditionally used printed catalogs to drive sales. The shift to online shopping by

THERE MAY have been fewer large sheetfed presses or standalone web press units on the show floor at last month’s Graph Expo and Converting Expo exhibition—especially in comparison to the PRINT show held last year—but don’t infer that this resulted in disappointing sales activity and lead generation for conventional offset press exhibitors. Quite the contrary. Even with less heavy iron dotting the landscape at Chicago’s McCormick Place South Hall, the general consensus among press manufacturers indicated it was the most productive Graph Expo event they’ve experienced since the late ’90s. Visitor traffic was brisk and serious buying activity persisted. Chalk it up to