Press Accessories

RESTON, VA—10/17/08—The three factors that reportedly most influence the purchase decision of an offset press are speed, price and quality—which isn’t altogether surprising, considering that printers become subject to those same considerations when it comes to trying to win print jobs. “The only way a printer can survive today is to have control over the cost of the printed product,” says Don Bence, vice president of Sakurai USA Inc., “Unfortunately, commercial printing is being treated as a commodity today, with extreme price pressures in the market.”

SHELTON, CT—10/16/2008—Baldwin Technology Co., a leading worldwide manufacturer of press controls and accessories, will be setting some innovative trends at Graph Expo, where it will present its current extensive product portfolio as well as new technical developments. These will include systems for sheet-fed and commercial-web presses. A wide range of Baldwin equipment can also be seen in operation on many key press manufacturers’ stands throughout the exhibition. Baldwin’s systems lead the industry in their ability to improve print quality, press productivity and efficiency, while ensuring they have the least impact possible on the environment and supporting the sustainability efforts of the graphic arts industry.

SOMERVILLE, NJ—October 2008—Kompac Technologies, LLC announces the release of the new Kompac Kwik Finish 26 – UV/Sapphire/Aqueous/Specialty Coating & Curing System.

DE PERE, WI—September 24, 2008—Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Connecticut, announced today that together with MEGTEC Systems management, it has acquired MEGTEC from parent company Sequa Corporation. The transaction involves all MEGTEC businesses, including the Printing Products (PPG) and Industrial and Environmental Products (IEPG) Groups and related Services Groups. MEGTEC will become a stand-alone company with no major change in management structure or day-to-day business operations.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—September 23, 2008—X-Rite, Inc. (NASDAQ: XRIT), the world leader in color management, measurement and communication technologies, today unveiled the new i1 line of color management and calibration solutions. Featuring the new i1Basic and i1XTreme solutions, the i1 portfolio offers fully-featured color management systems at highly attractive price points, thereby simplifying the solution selection process for creative, photo, and prepress professionals. The new i1 family will be showcased at Photokina (booth # D050, hall 04.1, Köln Messe, Cologne, Germany, September 23-28, 2008) and at GRAPH EXPO (booth # 5214 at McCormick Place South in Chicago, IL October 26–29, 2008).

CENTERBROOK, CT—August 18, 2008—EPG (Essex Products Group), a global leader in the manufacture and integration of color control systems, announces that it signed an agreement to purchase GRIPdigital, Inc., and is expanding its KeyColor™ line to include color measurement products. GRIPdigital, founded in 1998 by Greg Imhoff, specialized in color and production hardware and software solution advancements for the graphic arts industry. Imhoff, President of GRIPdigital, industry veteran, color expert, and a G7™ (GRACoL) Expert Consultant, has joined EPG as Director of Color Solutions to drive the company’s new color measurement product development and global sales. GRIPdigital products, including new patent-pending color measurement technology,

ARVADA, CO—July 24, 2008—Air Motion Systems, Inc. (AMS), a leading North American manufacturer of high-performance UV curing systems, IR/Thermal Air drying systems and related accessories for the printing industry, has announced its relocation to a new, greatly expanded facility in River Falls, Wis. – centrally located just east of Minneapolis/St. Paul and a few hours north of Chicago. The 36,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility doubles the size of the company’s existing operation in Arvada, Colo. and more than triples its production capacity. The new building also was designed and built from the ground up to be eligible for ‘green’ certification based on LEED (Leadership in

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY— 2008-06-09—As part of a strategic partnership, technotrans AG and manroland AG have agreed that technotrans AG ink roller temperature control units will in future be fitted as the original equipment on manroland sheet-fed presses. technotransAG, a leading systems supplier of peripheral equipment for offset printing, has for many years been one of the leading players in the market in this product category. “We have taken this decision in the interests of using resources optimally along the entire value added chain and in line with our product strategy for peripheral equipment,” explained Rudolf Hartmann, Area Head of Purchasing at manroland in Offenbach.

DE PERE, WI—May 29, 2008—MEGTEC Systems announces the market introduction of the innovative Ironman Integral Web Cooling Process System for web offset presses. “More and more printers are producing high quality work with lower grade paper and higher ink coverage. To work profitably the printing press needs to operate at or near optimum conditions – at maximum possible printing speed and with minimum paper waste” said Phil Strand, Vice President of MEGTEC Americas Printing Products Group. “It is not unusual to have ink coverage or ink characteristics that push up against the limits of the dryer specification, or beyond them. And when difficult-to-dry

KANSAS CITY, KS—May 20, 2008—xpedx® announced today that it will be the exclusive U.S. marketer and distributor of the world’s first LED-UV print curing system, an offset printing technology from Ryobi® that provides significant environmental, pressroom and financial advantages. A 14”x20” RYOBI 525GX will be the initial platform for the LED-UV curing system, with plans to extend the system to press models such as the 23”x31” RYOBI 750 Series in the future. The new technology will be demonstrated at drupa 2008 in Düsseldorf, Germany, May 29-June 11. The new RYOBI LED-UV curing system cuts power usage by a minimum of 70%, eliminates ozone