BY CAROLINE MILLER In August, catalog printers were crossing their fingers. The long-awaited holiday season was just around the corner. It's a time when most catalog printers see an increase of both page counts and quantity orders. And an increase is just what printers needed after a lackluster year. Top 10 -- Catalog Printers Company SegmentSales(millions) TotalSales (millions) 1 Quebecor WorldMontreal $1,105 $6,500 2 Quad/GraphicsPewaukee, WI $900 $1,800 3 R.R. Donnelley & SonsChicago $840 $5,254 4 Banta Corp.Menasha, WI $246 $1,538 5 Arandell Corp.Menomonee Falls, WI $196 $213 6 Perry Judd's Inc.Waterloo, WI $102 $343 7 Spencer PressWells, ME $94 $104 8 Continental Web PressItasca, IL $73 $121 9 Consolidated GraphicsHouston $68 $683 10 Von Hoffmann Corp.Saint Louis $64 $425 Sales figures are based on above printers'self-reported total and market segment breakdowns.At the time, early signs were beginning to indicate that catalog production would indeed increase during the
Quebecor World
BY CHRIS BAUER Although the year 2001 has caused history books to be rewritten, it will go down, in the minds of many, as a year we would like to forget. Top 10 -- Book Printers Company SegmentSales(millions) TotalSales (millions) 1 R.R. Donnelley & SonsChicago $788 $5,254 2 Quebecor WorldMontreal $780 $6,500 3 Banta Corp.Menasha, WI $384 $1,538 4 Von Hoffmann Corp.Saint Louis $318 $425 5 Courier Corp.N. Chelmsford, MA $208 $208 6 Bertelsmann ArvatoBerryville, VA $195 $315 7 Phoenix ColorHagerstown, MD $155 $155 8 Taylor PublishingDallas $110 $110 9 Hess ManagementAustin, TX $90 $180 10 Maple-Vail Book Mfg.York, PA $89 $89
BY ERIK CAGLE Without a doubt, 2001 was both a forgettable year and a year that won't soon be forgotten. Printers spent most of the year lamenting a poor economy that seemed to be trying to outdo itself in finding new lows with each passing month. Their customers, print buyers, were feeling the pinch: ad pages and folios dwindled, print orders declined and traditional commercial work seemed to be taking a beating. Others blamed the Internet and Web-based technologies for muscling in on the already-thinning turf, but the poster child of 1999 and 2000 was crying in its own beer. Industry dotcoms found venture capitalists weren't venturing
MAN Roland Technicians Get Golden ToolsOFFENBACH, GERMANY—Two American technicians were honored recently for completing the 1,000th MAN Roland mechanical systems course at the company's training center here. As a result of the hands-on coursework, the technicians, Warren Collins and Greg Voigt, received their gold wrenches and are certified to install and get U.S. customers up-and-running on Roland 700 presses. Heidelberg USA has realigned its operations into four business segments: Digital, Postpress, Sheetfed and Web. Niels M. Winther, a 34-year veteran with the organization, has assumed responsibility as head of Heidelberg's Market Center North America (U.S. and Canada). Appointed to head the four U.S. groups
MONTREAL—Roughly 18 months after it shocked the commercial printing industry by announcing it had merged with World Color, the world's largest printer returned to the merger and acquisition landscape with a vengeance. Quebecor World announced that it has acquired Retail Printing, a large, privately held, East Coast printer. Quebecor World has inked a definitive agreement to purchase the Taunton, MA-based printer of retail inserts that was scheduled to be completed in July. Retail Printing, which also operates a plant in Nashville, TN, and employs 400 total, boasts annual sales of nearly $100 million. The move augments Quebecor World's ability to provide both long-run
For John Zamora, it means being able to launch a new company with $40 million worth of new equipment. BY ERIK CAGLE John Zamora pretty much had it all, but even if he didn't, he surely had enough. At the age of 54, Zamora boasts a happy marriage and three grown children, a stable full of his precious race horses, a reputation as one of the best salesmen in the commercial printing industry and several million dollars in the bank. By most definitions, that stands as a successful career and life—the reward being countless leisure hours at the race track, travel or any
In case you haven't been outside lately, it's August; the temperature is 97° and the humidity is 97 percent. These are the Dog Days of summer. These days are about lethargy, lemonade and lots of air conditioning. Lots of your brother and sister print salespeople just stop working in August. Why not? The boss is at the shore. Some salespeople rationalize that the print buyers seem to have crawled underground. These salespeople say, "Why should I work?" Most of the buyers are backpacking in the mountains or scuba diving in the cool waters of the Caribbean. Well, I aim to do something about all this
Roger Perry: Web Offset PioneerWATERLOO, WI—Roger L. Perry, 78, who transformed his father's newspaper publishing business into a bustling commercial printer of magazines, catalogs and advertising, died April 14. Mr. Perry purchased an interest in his father's firm, Perry Printing, in 1956. He updated his father's antiquated letterpress with a web offset press, a bold move at the time, but Mr. Perry saw a trend toward higher quality, larger volume and increased color reproduction capability. He sold full ownership of the company to Journal Communications in 1974, but remained there until 1990, when he retired as chairman and CEO of Perry Printing and as
Sara Lindsey is the new marketing coordinator for Visual Systems, Milwaukee. Loretta Nichols has been named chairwomen of Printing Industries Association of the Heartland. Nichols is president and owner of L&J Sharpgraphics, Kansas City, MO. She is the first woman to lead the association in its 114-year history. Other individuals elected to officer positions include: Eddy Watkins, owner of Watkins Lithographic, as vice chairman; Rick Seymour, general manager of Nationwide Papers, as treasurer; and Bill Carroll, owner of ArtCraft Printing, as secretary. Michael S. Wurst, president of Henry Wurst Inc., is immediate past chairman. Those elected to serve a three-year term on the board of
BY ERIK CAGLE You won't see Jim Hopkins' face on the cover of Fortune magazine. His commercial printing company, Hopkins Printing, isn't likely to challenge Quebecor World, R.R. Donnelley or any other top 10-performer as an industry sales heavyweight. Hopkins Printing manages to fly under the radar screen, and chances are you've never heard of the 27-year-old, Columbus, OH-based establishment. Then again, Hopkins Printing has never laid off massive numbers of employees. You won't see any major restructuring because of missed quarterly revenue reports or disappointing stock valuation performances. His upper management team isn't a revolving door. There are no angry shareholders, no elimination
