ACROSS the nation

arizona

Phoenix—Courier Graphics is doubling the capacity of its pressroom by replacing one of its two current web presses with a new five-color Rotoman from MAN Roland. Scheduled for installation in the spring, with a May production date, the press will be equipped with a MAN Roland 1:2:3 folder and a Vits sheeter.

california

LOS ANGELES—Printing Industries Association of Southern California (PIASC) celebrated 25- and 50-year memberships at a recent awards breakfast. Companies that joined the association in 1980 and 1955 were honored for their loyalty and support of PIASC and presented with the silver and gold membership awards, respectively.

SANTA CLARA—Entire Printing recently added a Heidelberg Printmaster PM 52 press, a Prosetter 74 and a Pro 68 plate processor. This small general commercial printer has been in business for more than one year and has already recorded $2 million in sales.

florida

BREVARD COUNTY—Goss International has received an order from Gannett Co. for a tower addition press expansion project for its existing Goss Headliner offset press lines here used for Florida Today and USA Today. The new Goss Uniliner tower additions will be installed by the end of 2005 and will allow Florida Today to increase color capability.

TAMPA—Holding company BestSource Inc. announced the merger between short-run specialist Southprint Corp. and third-generation firm Tampa Printing. Each firm will maintain individual entities for an unspecified period of time in the current location of Southprint.

georgia

Marietta—Complete Printing Services, a high-end commercial shop, has installed a six-color Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 74 perfecting press with coater and Axis Control in order to meet increasing demand for process plus additional PMS color and metallic printing.

illinois

DES PLAINES—Copyco Solutions is now using a Heidelberg Quickmaster DI 46-4 Pro to produce newsletters, brochures and labels. Copyco is a family owned and operated general commercial printer that currently has 45 employees.

Harvey—Blue Island Newspaper Printing has installed a Prime Optimal NEWS curing system on its Goss SSC newspaper press. The new system provides high-speed UV curing and complete drying in-line, allowing Blue Island to cure Flint Ink Arrowlith UV inks on both sides of the web.

NILES—In an effort to meet customer demand for aqueous coating and perfecting capabilities, Specialty Printing, a high-volume direct mail print shop, has acquired a six-color Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 102 perfector with coater.

indiana

INDIANAPOLIS—Hilltop Press, a division of National Graphics, has installed a six-color, 40˝ Komori Lithrone LS40 interdeck UV press with IST lamps on all units.

iowa

DES MOINES—Specialty Graphics has added a second Brandtjen & Kluge press to its production line. This time a rebuilt Kluge EHD Series press was chosen for foil stamping and embossing applications.

MARYLAND

BALTIMORE—Victor Graphics has a tradition of dedicating each new press it installs to a sports team. The press is painted the team's color and a team flag is hung over the press. Victor's latest addition, a Timson T48A, honors the University of Maryland Terrapins. The University's mascot was on hand to help celebrate the book press' start up.

minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS—Shapco Printing, a mid-size commercial printer, recently implemented Heidelberg's Prinect Printready 2.0 and Signa Station 1.0.

missouri

ST. LOUIS—Kohler Print Group announced that it has broken its own safety record and achieved four years with no lost work days due to accidents or injuries.

new jersey

Carlstadt—Pictorial Offset has completed installation of a new eight-color MAN Roland R-700 series press with UV coating capability. The new press is equipped with a JDF-compatible PECOM software driven operating system and automatic plate loading. It is also capable of running both hybrid and conventional inks and is equipped with a Grafix interdeck UV curing system.

FAIRFIELD—Redi-Mail Direct Marketing has purchased substantially all of the assets of PPS Medical Marketing Group. As part of the transaction, Redi-Mail Direct Marketing will reportedly become one of only 10 database licensees of American Medical Association (AMA) proprietary data, with the ability to resell AMA data such as physician and state license information.

NEW MEXICO

ALBUQUERQUE—A six-color, 56˝ MAN Roland 900 sheetfed press with aqueous and UV coater is now in production at Albuquerque Printing. It is reportedly the largest press in the region and also the first capable of producing high-gloss UV coatings.

pennsylvania

McKees Rocks—Marketplace Direct, a mid-size direct mail firm, reports the recent installation of a two-color Heidelberg Printmaster QM-46 press.

virginia

ROANOKE—Moody Graphics/Polaris Studios has changed its name to Moody Graphics Printing to reflect the new focus of the company. It also has installed a second KBA 74 Karat press. The 30-year-old company started out as a prepress shop. It is a division of Moody Graphic Color Service, also located in Roanoke.

wisconsin

GREEN BAY—The Van Lanen Printing Co. has installed a new six-color Roland 700 press with in-line coating and automated plate loading. It is also equipped with TelePresence remote service diagnostic capabilities.

MILWAUKEE—Visual Systems Inc. (VSI) has unveiled a new print technology dubbed BaseOne. It was created as an alternative to traditional book cover printing. BaseOne allows printing directly onto a plastic substrate, eliminating the two-step process of printing on paper then adding a laminate.

Industry News

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