Heidelberg

BURBANK, CA—Print brokerage A&L GraphiCo and its sister company, prepress house L.A. Filmco, have joined forces to create a new company, LAgraphico.com. Officials say the combined operation fills an entire range of design, digital imaging, prepress and printing needs. The company has purchased a new six-color Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 CD printing press with in-line coating, and a new Creo Trendsetter 3244 Spectrum for digital proofing and platesetting. Al and Elizabeth Shapiro formed the A&L GraphiCo printing brokerage 23 years ago in downtown Los Angeles. A few years later, they added a second company, L.A. Filmco, to handle the prepress and large-format film output requirements

Richmond, VA—After 62 years, Spencer Printing, based here, is changing its name to Colormark. According to officials at the company, the change is intended to reflect the company's new phase of growth. In February, Spencer Printing was acquired by The Supply Room Companies, owner of Proximus Printing. Spencer and Proximus were merged and all operations moved to Spencer's 40,000-square-foot facility. Ron Lanio, former president of Spencer Printing, was tapped to take the title of president at the combined operations. "After the merger we conducted an opinion survey of current and prospective customers to find out what changes and improvements they would like to see in our

Broadview, IL—Lehigh Press has made what it calls a major equipment addition at its Lehigh Cadillac Direct direct marketing division here. The installation is a custom-built, full-size, six-unit Heidelberg M-1000 web press. Raymond A. Frick, CEO and president, points out that under the leadership of Lehigh Cadillac Direct President Paul Palmer, the division's revenues grew more than 20 percent in 1998. To drive the division's continued growth, Lehigh Press has launched a $14 million, corporation-wide, capital investment program concentrating on the installation of cutting-edge technology including presses, digital prepress and finishing systems. "The added press capacity is just the start," Frick reveals. "It immediately expands our

CLIFTON, NJ—A $20 million expansion is under way at Sandy Alexander, based here. The core of the expansion is the installation of two new eight-color Heidelberg Speedmaster CD sheetfed presses with interdeck drying and a double coater capable of combining UV and aqueous coating, running at 15,000 iph. In addition, the company is installing a new off-line double coating/finishing unit, also manufactured by Heidelberg, and similarly rated at 15,000 iph. (Heidelberg plans to debut this coater at Drupa next May, however, Sandy Alexander will be up and running with it before the end of the year.) This new coater offers several competitive advantages, including: Ability

Allied Printing has developed a reputation for treating customers like royalty through full-service capabilities and a deadline-conscious, dedicated staff. BY ERIK CAGLE Allied Printing is celebrating its 50th anniversary by following the credo instilled by its founder, John F. Sommers: Never say no to a customer. And while the landscape of the commercial printing industry has witnessed numerous changes in the way business is conducted, it seems that Mr. Sommers' motto has enjoyed a nice, long shelf life. Never saying no, naturally, means always saying yes—an expensive proposition—yet it is one that has worked for Allied Printing Services Inc. Located five miles east of

Expanded color gamuts, strategic digital halftone proofing launches, imposition proofers and multi-setting thermal devices highlighted the digital proofing component of GRAPH EXPO 99. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO What were the digital proofing flares shot out at GRAPH EXPO 99? One glaring signal: Digital halftone proofing is still riding a high. Equally hot for the contract proofmakers were new devices offering expanded color gamuts, two-sided imposition proofers, new multi-purpose thermal proofsetters and refined remote proofing promises—all of which captured the attention and scrutiny of show attendees, who are looking to purchase the next contract proofer and want to know . . . Who joined

The call for open, device-independent color management is driving more and more prepress workflows. Are closely woven color management tools on the way out? Is ICC compliance the best route for color control? BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO An overall ease of use and a simplification of the process; these may be the two strongest desires driving color management for any prepress professional advocating some sort of consistent, cross-platform, color management standard. Is International Color Consortium (ICC) compliance the answer? Are new, device-independent color management software solutions the key to unlocking color bottlenecks? Recently, Printing Impressions posed these and other questions to a sampling of

The seminar business is really a branch of show business. There are hits and there are flops. And sometimes it's completely mysterious why one show is a hit and another a flop. Working with Seybold Seminars for the last few years, I've observed the mysterious situation whereby some of the conferences are a much greater success than others. And the exact reason can be tough to pin down. (If it was easy, they'd always be hits!) This year's Seybold San Francisco program was an extraordinary success. Several people told me that it was the best conference they'd been to in the last few years. I'm not

TOKYO—Smaller than two years ago and with fewer visitors, IGAS 1999 nevertheless managed to attract genuine foreign printer-visitors this year. In previous years, foreign interest was shown primarily by dealers and distributors for Japanese equipment and materials, as well as area managers for overseas suppliers. Now, after many years of persistent efforts, the organizers of IGAS have at long last agreed to fit into the four-year cycle of the major international graphic arts shows: Drupa, Ipex and Print. Business in Japan is only beginning to come out of a severe recession. The buying and investment effects of a renewing confidence, though, will probably

There's A dirty little secret among some of the country's largest printers. It's not something they all want their competitors to know. And it has to do with the most overlooked part of the print stream. Their secret? The bindery can sell print jobs. Traditionally, the bindery was seen only as a necessary evil, the unpopular room tucked in a corner of the plant, where the product was finished once all the "real work" of designing and printing was done. Print buyers would look for companies with the most advanced prepress areas and pressrooms, and then expect that the product would be cut, folded