George

BITS AND PIECES THE B&P mailbag has been overflowing with cards and letters from kind readers who write to tell me how much they enjoy the feature. So I figured I’d grab the first letter I found and share it with you. OK, so I’m a rotten liar. Bits and Pieces barely nudged out the masthead in a recent reader poll. They used to let me write the calendar of events, but the editors felt it lacked pizazz. Put yourself into it, they said. And now, I’m saddled with this feature, and getting no love from it. No one calls, no one writes...not

BIELEFELD, GERMANY—For any printer, trade binder or mailing house interested in specialized finishing equipment, ranging from sophisticated in-line mailing machinery and miniature folders on up to 62x75˝ map folders, this quaint German town located 60 miles southwest of Hannover was the center of the graphic arts universe recently. More than 1,000 visitors from around the world, including a U.S group organized by MBO America, attended a four-day open house at the headquarters of Herzog + Heymann (H+H), arguably the world leader in mailing and specialized folding equipment. Four separate halls were set up for demonstrations featuring 21 H+H and MBO machines, as well as

DARIEN, CT—The Printing Arts America (PAA) rollup of commercial printers, collected during the heyday of industry consolidation in the late 1990s, has been divested. Nationwide Graphics announced it has acquired Classic Printing of Nashville, TN; AIM Riverside Press of Pompano Beach, FL; and Printing Arts Houston from PAA, which had filed for Chapter 11 reorganizational protection last November. Nationwide is also now part owner of Miami-based Original Impressions, with Roland Garcia—founder of the company—as majority owner. Recently, Houston-based Consolidated Graphics acquired Baltimore-based S&S Graphics, while Printing Arts Chicago was reacquired by William J. Chmura—its previous owner—and John Ropski. The other PAA companies—Bay State Press, Framingham, MA; George