Leo Roars in China — Michelson

But, before readers chastise me for highlighting a foreign printing operation that competes for a lot of work from American companies, let me explain how I visited China’s fifth largest printer (annual sales: $300 million) in the first place. I was part of an international trade press contingent that was invited last month to tour Komori Corporation’s brand-new Tsukuba Lithrone press manufacturing operations in Japan. As an added bonus, the group made a side trip to China so we could spend a day visiting Leo Paper. With 55 Lithrone sheetfed presses (out of 65 presses total) running during two, 10-hour shifts, Komori wanted to publicize the loyal Chinese customer’s facility. Relying on its large press capacity to turn work quickly—as well as the output from 7,000 pieces of additional support equipment—Leo’s record is nine million impressions printed in just one day. This year’s goal: 12 million.