DIGITAL bytes

VERNON HILLS, IL—Scheduling flexibility is what sets Aim Business Printers apart from other printers, asserts Richard Sussman, vice president and general manager. To support production of run lengths that vary from 500 to 1 million sheets, the shop installed a PlateRite 4000II thermal plate recorder and Trueflow PDF workflow from Screen (USA). It also implemented Screen's Spekta hybrid AM/FM screening technology. (www.screenusa.com)

NORFOLK, VA—The Virginian-Pilot (daily circulation of 200,000 copies) has purchased two Polaris X violet-laser computer-to-plate platesetters from Autologic, an Agfa Co. (www.pilotonline.com/www.agfa.com)

HOUSTON—Champagne Fine Printing is adding an HP Indigo digital printing press to assist clients in creating targeted, one-to-one marketing communication pieces. The company bills itself as a high-value commercial printer using e-tools for collaboration and management of projects over the Internet. It is a member of the Mail-Well group of companies. (www.champagneusa.com)

LITTLE ROCK, AR—Democrat Printing & Lithographing (DP&L) has extended its CTP capabilities by adding a second system from Agfa. It features a PDF-based Apogee Series3 workflow solution driving a Galileo VXT platesetter. (www.democratprinting.com)

BURLINGTON, MA—Humana Inc. in Louisville, KY, Huntington National Bank in Columbus, OH, and Imagecom in Waldwick, NJ, all recently installed Roll Systems' TwoUp System to provide roll feeding and finishing for their new Xerox DocuPrint CF continuous-form digital printers. (www.rollsystems.com)

GREENVILLE, NC—Digital printer AccuCopy is in the process of more than doubling its space by moving into a new 70,000-square-foot facility. The expansion is needed to accommodate growth in one-to-one marketing, mail fulfillment and statement rendering services. According to management, variable data was featured in more than 3 million of the 110 million total impressions the company produced last year, with the Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 print system being a key enabler of the capability. (www.accucopy.com/www.heidelberg.com)

LOUISVILLE KY—V.G. Reed & Sons, a family owned printing and fulfillment firm, has invested in an Agfa Xcalibur CTP system and two Spinjet proofing systems. "The new platemaking system doubles our prepress throughput, giving our clients even greater scheduling flexibility," says Dennis Reed, company president and CEO. (www.vgreed.com/www.agfa.com)

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL—Fred Fetzner, owner of Tiger Tale Publications, says he was looking to gain production speed and savings in deciding to install a Fujifilm Saber Vx-9600 violet-laser CTP system from Enovation Graphic Systems. The shop added the platesetter, along with an Epson 10000 proofer, as part of an expansion that also included a new Heidelberg heatset web press and a 12,000-square-foot plant addition. (www.tiger-tale.com/www.fujifilm.com)

HOLLAND, OH—Metzgers, a full-service graphic arts company, has completed a five-month, $800,000 capabilities upgrade program that included adding a Screen (USA) PlateRite 4000 CTP system driven by the Trueflow PDF workflow system and outputting Spekta screening. The company also installed a Matchprint Digital Doc12 and Digital Wide color proofing system from Kodak Polychrome Graphics. (www.metzgers.com)

ROCHESTER, NY—Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has been granted 17 additional U.S. patents in 2003 for its Digimaster printing technology. The new patents are on top of the more than 40 patents the company had already received for its black-and-white printing product line and the more than 200 U.S. patent applications that are currently pending. (www.heidelberg.com)

CLEVELAND—Seeking to offer high-quality, low-cost printing, Great Lakes Companies has invested in a NexPress 2100 digital color production system and Quickmaster DI Pro digital press, both from Heidelberg. (www.gll.com/www.heidelberg.com)

BRAINTREE, MA—The local Sir Speedy claims to be the first quick printer in New England to install a Xerox Docucolor iGen3 digital production press. According to management, the shop is the third-busiest franchise nationwide. (www.xerox.com)

MIDDLETOWN, OH—Looking to complement its medium- and long-run capabilities while improving delivery time, Alliance Printing & Mailing Service has installed a four-color Ryobi DI-Xtra digital press, developed by Presstek Inc. The company is targeting runs of 100 to 25,000 copies. (www.allianceprinting.net)

NEVADA CITY, CA—Originally formed as an in-house graphic arts department for a division of Tektronix, LectraMedia has grown into a 30-employee, primarily digital print shop producing short runs and variable data printing. After being offered a free trial unit, the company recently purchased two Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 print systems as replacements for equipment from another manufacturer. (www.lectramedia.com/www.heidelberg.com)

NORWALK, CT—Kodak Polychrome Graphics' Matchprint ink-jet proofing system has been qualified a SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Publications) Certified Proofing System. In addition, the company's Matchprint Digital Halftone proofing system has received SWOP re-certification. (www.kpgraphics.com)

UPPER MARLBORO, MD—Foxfire Printing reports it has installed a Xerox DocuColor iGen3 digital production press to initiate a short-run and variable information color printing business. (www.foxfireprinting.com/ www.xerox.com)

DALTON, GA—Brown Printing has installed a Fujifilm PictroProof digital color proofer to support its production of POP (point-of-purchase) displays. The company has developed the flooring industry as a market niche, so it produces larger quantities of display items and signage that is printed conventionally. (www.brownind.com/ www.fujifilm.com)

GENT, BELGIUM—Esko-Graphics has instituted a three-year warranty on the FreeBeam lasers for its PlateDriver CTP systems. The imaging module integrates an adjustable 30mW violet diode laser and associated optics. (www.esko-graphics.com)

MACEDONIA, OH—Automated Graphic Systems (AGS), a Consolidated Graphics company, has announced improvements to its prepress systems and capabilities. AGS has installed a Kodak Approval XP4 digital proofing device, an HP5000 inkjet proofing device, a Creo Lotem computer-to-plate system and a Nexscan scanner with copy dot scanning capabilities. The upgrades amount to a $300,000 investment in prepress technology. (www.ags.com)

MACOMB, MI—Admore, a manufacturer of presentation folder products, has installed a complete CTP system from Agfa Corp. It features the Apogee workflow system driving an Xcalibur 45S automatic platesetter and Sherpa 43 digital proofer. Admore is a subsidiary of Ennis Business Forms. (www.admoredirect.com)

ST. LOUIS—Kohler and Sons has formed a PreMedia Services Division to support its complete commercial printing capabilities. The division's services "are designed to deliver consistent color production across multiple media and ensure that the designer's creation is translated properly into printed marketing materials," says Kevin Kohler, president and CEO. Along with being one of the largest sheetfed printers in the region, the shop also specializes in digital printing. (www.kohlerandsons.com)

SANTA ANA, CA—Duplo USA has joined the HP Impressions Road Show, a nationwide tour featuring a complete digital print shop on wheels. Duplo's contribution includes the DC-545HC cutter/creaser/slitter, DBM-80H bookletmaker/trimmer and EZ Book tabletop bookletmaker. According to HP, to date the road show has reached an estimated 2,000 visitors from 500 companies in 25 cities. A second truck was added this May to tour the Southern and Eastern regions of the U.S. The road show calendar is available at www.hp.com/go/indigo. (www.duplousa.com)

FAIRFIELD, NJ—C. Walters Advertising is a notable company for a couple reasons. It continues to operate as a color separator/service bureau and has recently added a new imagesetter, the Fujifilm Ninja four-up, internal-drum machine. The shop does high-end color scanning for ad agencies and printers out of New York and New Jersey, says Chuck Enering, operations manager, but it also has expanded into new services such as wide-format printing. (www.fujifilm.com)

VANCOUVER—Creo Inc. reports that Hiflex GmbH of Germany is the newest partner to join Networked Graphic Production (NPG). Hiflex is a developer of management information systems (MIS) for the printing and media industries. NPG is described as a strategic initiative that integrates JDF-based production solutions for press, prepress, postpress, MIS and creative workflows. (www.creo.com/ www.hiflex.de/lang/eng)

ROSELLE, IL—RGC Communications expects the addition of a Xerox DocuColor iGen3 digital production press to power a tripling of its variable information print (VIP) volume, from 2.5 million pages in 2003 to more than 8 million pages in 2004. The company has been involved in VIP for more than 15 years. (www.rgccomm.com/www.xerox.com)

BLOOMINGTON, MN—Carlson Print Group has installed a Fujifilm PictroProof contone proofer, following more than two years of 100 percent CTP-based production using conventional proofing. "Customers began asking for a better quality and yet cheaper proof," explains Patrick Kenney, prepress manager. (www.carlson- print.com/www.fujifilm.com)