Goss International

WITH THE massive Drupa exhibition in Germany just seven months away, Graph Expo 2007 held in Chicago last month won’t go down in graphic arts history as a watershed event from a jaw-dropping new product standpoint. But that didn’t stop more than 20,000 upbeat attendees from filling the aisles at what was the largest Graph Expo event since 2000, and the second largest ever. Despite the Drupa effect, from a traditional offset printing standpoint there were a few new presses introduced, several automation and makeready advancements on display and, of course, a sprinkling of press sale announcements. An emphasis on environmental sustainability and improved

CHICAGO—Quad/Graphics has placed an order for six Goss finishing systems, including Pacesetter 2500 saddlestitchers and Universalbinder adhesive binders, which will be installed at various facilities over the next 12 months.Quad has installed more than 100 of the aforementioned machines since 1980.

EMBRACING technology in the first generation of a product’s release is generally frowned upon. Price points are spiky, and more often than not, there are bugs that need to be worked through before the long-promised automation, efficiencies and cost savings are fully realized. Then again, industry leaders rarely subscribe to the populist’s theory. They don’t reach the top by adhering to the herd mentality. Gary Samuels has always gone his own way, in a sense. The managing partner of Pictorial Offset in Carlstadt, NJ, wasn’t quite the lone wolf, benefitting from the combined efforts of brothers (and fellow partners) Donald and Lester. But after

RESTON, VA, August 29, 2007... The Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization (PRIMIR), an NPES group devoted to providing cutting-edge market research for the printing industry, presented the Neil Richards Visionary Leadership Award to Edwin Masten, Manager of Strategic Planning at International Paper, Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Masten was presented with this award during the PRIMIR/NPES Meeting in Portland, Oregon on August 9, 2007. PRIMIR Chairperson, Christina Echevarria of Goss International presents Edwin Masten with the Neil Richards Visionary Leadership Award. This award was established in 1998 in honor of a long-time GAMIS member and printing industry visionary, Neil W. Richards who now

Stitchers Star at Muller Martini Open House HAUPPAUGE, NY—Nearly three dozen print production businesses, including printing and binding companies of different sizes, recently attended a saddlestitching open house hosted by Muller Martini. The event, entitled “First to the Finish: Leading-Edge Saddlestitching Solutions for Maximum Automation,” was held here at Muller’s Long Island headquarters. Open house attendees viewed live demonstrations of three finishing machines geared toward the middle-performance segment. Demonstrated were a BravoPlus saddlestitcher with AMRYS (Automatic Make-Ready System), a BravoPlus T stitcher with partial AMRYS and a Presto stitcher. During the event, Muller Martini sold a BravoPlus T machine. Visitors not only saw three of Muller Martini’s

CHICAGO—July 30th, 2007—Goss International will highlight its position as commercial web market and technology leader on booth 3041 at Graph Expo in Chicago from September 9-12. Emphasis will be on the gapless Sunday press range, new high-productivity Pacesetter 2200 and 2500 saddlestitchers and comprehensive Lifetime Support aftermarket services. “Our presses and finishing systems continue to set the innovation standard, and we continue to augment our platforms with Automatic Transfer technology, pinless folder developments, new automation features and other breakthroughs,” explains Graham Trevett, Goss International vice president of sales for the western United States. “Graph Expo provides a great chance to update printers and discuss how

LIVONIA, MI—July 20th, 2007—Valassis (NYSE: VCI) announced today that it will install a new Goss Sunday 2000 web press at its Anderson Printing Division (APD) in September 2007. The 24-page gapless press will print up to 77,600 impressions per hour and will be used primarily to produce versioned runs for the company’s shared mail products. “We need a high-productivity press that is also agile enough to excel in a makeready intensive environment,” said Aaron Trager, senior vice president, APD. “The Sunday 2000 technology will give us that key combination.” The new four-unit Sunday press at Valassis will be equipped with a Goss Contiweb CS splicer, an

WALTON, KY—June 12, 2007— A new Goss web press at Continental Web will include the 2,000th gapless Sunday press printing unit ever manufactured. Goss International will ship the milestone unit from its Dover, New Hampshire facility in December as part of a new four-unit Sunday 3000/32 press for the direct mail, catalog and publication specialist. Continental Web has facilities in Itasca, Illinois as well as in Walton. The company operates three additional Sunday presses, six Goss M-1000 presses and several Goss finishing systems. “We look forward to the new opportunities the wider 2x8 press format will create for our customers,” explains Bill Scarpaci, chief operating officer

MAN Roland Hosts Printers for Press Premier OFFENBACH, GERMANY—The world premier of a “next generation” sheetfed printing platform isn’t an everyday occurrence, so MAN Roland extended its recent festivities to more than a week to allow for bringing in several groups of select printers, journalists and its own employees from around the globe. The stars of the show were HiPrint and DirectDrive versions of the new Roland 700 sheetfed printing platform. To make the most of the trip, the contingent from North America was additionally treated to tours of a local DirectDrive beta site, MAN Roland’s foundry and its manufacturing/assembly facilities for sheetfed presses.

PRINTERS WHO hitch their star to a particular vertical market put themselves in a vulnerable position, given that market may experience wholesale changes and leave them holding an antiquated bag. By all rights, Motivating Graphics’ obituary should have been written by now. The Ft. Worth, TX-based company primarily aligned with a single market from its outset in 1976, and that vertical experienced major technological shifts that would have shaken loose many vendors like apples from a tree. But, 30 years later, the Clark family—father Ray Sr., son Ray Jr. and grandsons Chris and Tim—are coming off a year in which they invested more than