Des Moines

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) plans to close its regional printing plant here this month and contract the printing of its newspaper, along with the weekly Barron’s, to The Des Moines Register, that paper reported. The current WSJ plant, which employs 25 people, produced editions for a four-state area.

DES MOINES, IA—The Wall Street Journal plans to close its regional printing plant here in April and contract the printing of its newspaper, along with the weekly Barron's, to The Des Moines Register, that paper reported. The current WSJ plant, which employs 25, produced publications for a four-state area. The Register's plant will add six additional and several part-time staffers to handle the added work. WSJ has closed three other regional plants in the past six months, the Register reported.

NEWTON, IA—Rock Communications, based here, has completed a deal to acquire Colorfx Inc. of Des Moines, IA. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The combined companies have approximately 400 employees in five facilities throughout central and northeastern Iowa. Combined annual sales are approximately $75 million. Colorfx and Rock Communications will retain their original names. Colorfx has three locations, including two facilities in Des Moines and a plant in Waverly, IA. The combined company will be led by Jon Troen, president of Rock Communications. John DeVries, current president and CEO of Colorfx, is retiring to pursue other interests. “The union of these two companies will allow us to

CHICAGO—Palm Beach, FL-based Workflow Management plans to acquire Office Electronics (OEI), a $55 million graphic arts distributor and manufacturer here. The move adds new Workflow sales offices in nine cities: Chicago, Des Moines, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Nashville, Dallas, Houston and Milwaukee. Additionally, officials believe the acquisition will strengthen Workflow's existing sales offices in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and St. Louis, as well as enhance Workflow's efforts as a distributor of custom printed products and office consumables. "We are purchasing a sales force with $55 million in existing revenue and a tremendous upside potential," says Tom D'Agostino Sr., Workflow's chairman and