Smythe

Sustained economic growth and smart adoption of technologies to create new value-added services have helped put the U.S. printing industry in its strongest position in many years, speakers concurred at the first NPES Industry Summit, held recently in Chicago. The Summit brought together for the first time the long-standing economic forecasting conference PRINT OUTLOOK®, plus the NPES Spring Board of Directors Meeting and a meeting of PRIMIR, the Print Industries Marketing Information and Research Organization. “These three gatherings gained an impact and value from being held together that greatly exceeded their separate importance, even though each event already enjoyed a high reputation for serving

KBA North America has announced the appointment of two new district sales managers to concentrate their efforts on fast-growing sales territories on the East and West coasts. Richard “Dick” Bacon is overseeing the Southern California territory while John Graff is calling on accounts in the Washington, DC/DelMarVa locale. Secap has entered into an OEM agreement with Kodak to resell Kodak Versamark 4300 UV print engine technology and associated peripherals. Secap will match up the Kodak Versamark print engine and UV cure station with its own range of transport and material handling peripherals. Wausau Paper reports two new additions to its printing and writing group. Jeffrey Fox

WESTAMPTON, NJ—Muller Martini and MBO America recently held a joint bindery customer expo at MBO's headquarters. The event attracted more than 250 participants. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has issued the first international safety standard for printing press systems: ISO 12648:2003 Graphic technology—Safety requirements for printing press systems. The standard was developed by ISO Technical Committee 130 (TC 130) Working Group 5 (Safety and Ergonomics). The committee is administered by NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies with NPES Vice President William K. "Kip" Smythe and Director of Standards Programs Mary Abbott serving as convener and secretary, respectively. Dauphin Graphic Machines

It's early December, as I write this, and the first major snowstorm rocks the City of Brotherly Love. The storm takes a rare path of traveling due north up the eastern seaboard. For those of us living in southern New Jersey (or South Jersey to all us separatist hawks) this is odd. Weather reports always show major storms striking north and west of Philly, meaning those of us on the eastern side of the Delaware River get to enjoy light precipitation, primarily rain. But on this morning, the storm is making its way north via Washington, DC. What a time for PRINT Outlook 03.