Offset Printing - Web

WORLD AND industry viewpoints alike are set to come together at the upcoming 2006 Web Offset Association (WOA) Management and Technical Conference. But what sets this meeting apart in our conference-heavy industry? According to the WOA’s executive director, the combination of heavy-hitter speakers and relevant industry information will keep those attending the event wanting more. “We want attendees to be able to customize the experience for their individual needs,” reports Mary Garnett, PIA/GATF vice president and WOA executive director. Titled “Decision Points 2006,” the 54th annual conference will take place at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, FL, on May 21-24. Designed for executives

This year’s recipient of the Web Offset Association’s Harry V. Quadracci VISION Award might seem like an obvious choice, due to some family connections. Yet, it’s been hard work, determination and technological innovation that propelled Thomas A. Quadracci to the top of America’s largest privately held printer, not his last name. Quadracci will be presented with the eighth annual VISION Award on May 22 during the WOA conference. The honor was named after Quad/Graphics’ late founder and Thomas’ older brother, Harry Quadracci, who was the inaugural recipient in 1999. The timing of the award also couldn’t be better. Currently, chairman and CEO of Quad/Graphics, Tom

SOMETIMES A simple plan can be made to look brilliant when it is backed by hard work and dedication to quality customer service. But perhaps what has really helped Inserts East, a free-standing insert printing specialist based in Pennsauken, NJ, is its ability to lay low in a niche populated by some large, national printers. Make no mistake about it. Inserts East—though coined a boutique printer by company President Nick Maiale—is not a small potatoes establishment. At $50 million a year in annual sales, it is the envy of many smaller, mainstream commercial operations. But Nick and his father Gino—who managed the company from its inception

Decision Points 2006 is the theme for this 54th edition of the Web Offset Association (WOA) Annual Management and Technical Conference. To a large extent, if any recent year were plugged into that phrase, the hot issues, industry trends and challenges would be the same. In a promotional piece for the conference, Ralph Pontillo, 2005-2006 chairman of the WOA board of directors and vice president/division director at Transcontinental Printing, observes that: “Critical decisions must be made daily—strategy and tactics, operational challenges, investment decisions and procedures. A quick glance at the myriad of (2006 session) topics yields volumes of opportunities: world and industry viewpoints and

STEVE FORBES has been described as a media mogul, a Web-savvy ideologue, a simplified tax advocate, a publisher and, more relevant here, the keynote presenter at next month’s Web Offset Association (WOA) meeting in Orlando, FL. Not only does Steve Forbes know our business, he lives it. Forbes Inc. is an 88-year-old publishing company riding the cusp of the Internet and new media challenges. Having invested tens of millions into the Internet, the president and CEO of Forbes Inc. and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine continues to be very optimistic about the power of print. In addition to his intimate dealings with the printing industry

It’s a rarity to hear about a new printing facility being built from the ground up in today’s graphic arts world. But that is just what Williams Printing, an RR Donnelley company, celebrated when it opened a new 130,000-square-foot facility located near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in 2005. But, then again, Williams Printing does not consider itself your Average Joe Printer. During the past 80 years, Williams Printing has built a reputation for outstanding quality, service and innovation. And although RR Donnelley is now the world’s largest provider of print and print-related services—and Williams is among the largest commercial printers in the Atlanta area—both pursue a

Sometimes necessity is the mother of consolidation. Case in point is National Hirschfeld of Denver. Less than a year ago, there was no such animal as National Hirschfeld. Oh, the Hirschfeld portion sounds extremely familiar, as in longtime family owned printing business A.B. Hirschfeld. Outside of former Rocky Mountain dweller Mail-Well (now Cenveo)—which recently relocated its headquarters to Connecticut—century-old A.B. Hirschfeld was easily one of the most recognizable names for printing in the state of Colorado. The groundwork for negotiations that eventually led to the creation of National Hirschfeld began last April, when Brett Birky, president of National Printing and Packaging (NP&P), met with his old

By Mark Michelson Editor-in-Chief Growing interest in digital press offerings notwithstanding, the estimated 62,000 attendees at PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 surely didn't go home with the impression that the traditional sheetfed offset market has lost its luster, especially given all of the big iron dominating the show floor during the seven-day-long exhibition last month. Sealing the deal for nine new Komori six-color, 40˝ Lithrone presses at various Consolidated Graphics facilities are, front row from the left: Robert Birmingham, Consolidated Graphics; John Marotta, Komori America; back row: Yoshiharu Komori, Komori Corp.; George Abboud, Consolidated Graphics; Stephan Carter, Komori America; and Satoshi Mochida, Komori

By Kristen E. Monte The Harry V. Quadracci VISION Award, presented by the Web Offset Association (WOA), is awarded to a heatset web offset industry executive who has become a dominant force in shaping the business of heatset printing. William F. Hogg Jr., this year's VISION Award winner, has gone far beyond executive-level duties to make significant changes, not only with his company Valassis Communications, but for the web offset industry as a whole. William F. Hogg Jr.Hogg is executive vice president of manufacturing and operations for Valassis, headquartered in Livonia, MI, and a member of Valassis' executive committee. He began his career

by Dennis E. Mason Halfway through the first decade of the 21st century seems a good time to step back and assess the status of web offset printing and what the future may hold. The web printing industry is five years beyond the Y2K scare, and has largely recovered from the downturn that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks. So where do we go from here? For answers to this key question, Printing Impressions went to a number of web industry observers and printers. Here is what they had to say about a number of important issues: How are JDF and Computer-integrated Manufacturing