PRINTER news
Printers Flock to See Two-Sided Coating
DALLAS—Neither heavy rains nor threatening tornadoes could dissuade roughly 75 printers and journalists from visiting Buchanan Visual Communications on April 24 and 25 for Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses’ 2007 National Open House.
The violent weather wiped out a planned visit to a Texas Rangers-Seattle Mariners game at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, TX, but the guests were treated to some towering, long drives nonetheless during the “State of Perfection” demonstration. At the core of the open house was a display of the firepower behind Buchanan’s 12-color, 40˝ Mitsubishi Diamond 3000R convertible perfector equipped with tower coaters. The dual coaters have earned the press the moniker of Double Diamond.
The press configuration includes a high-efficiency drying package from Grafix LP, which incorporates hot air knives, an interdeck UV curing system, infrared dryer lamps and UV lamps. It also features an X-Rite closed-loop color control system.
Buchanan’s press operators are impressed with the versatility of the machine, which has been in service about 10 months. It handles a variety of stock, from 24-pt. stock down to 50-lb. paper. This enables Buchanan to perform a wide range of general commercial products.
Dave Johnson, CEO of Buchanan Visual Communications, noted the economical benefits of printing six-over-six on both sides, in one pass. “You get about the same amount of production out of one crew as you would two,” he says. “I save $360,000 in labor alone. Over a 10-year amortization, that’s $3.6 million. It doesn’t take a math genius to see the labor savings.”
Agencies and graphic designers make up about 30 percent of Buchanan’s client list, with another 30 percent being resellers and 40 percent comprising end users. Where the printer is making headway is with the plastics market, churning out products on mylar and static clings.
M&A Creates New Master Print Group
JONESBORO, AR—Master Printing recently announced the acquisition of Pinpoint Printing’s equipment and production facility. The expansion will allow the company to provide a much wider range of product offerings, including creative services, traditional and digital printing, advertising promotion and mail fulfillment. The affiliated companies will operate under the name of Master Print Group.
Dallas-based Padgett Printing has named Kirk Lawrence as chief information officer, a newly created position. Lawrence, a printing industry IT veteran who most recently served at Motheral Printing, will be responsible for all of the firm’s information technology functions. Also, two new sales reps were added at Padgett: Robert Condon, previously with Cross Media, and Martha Parks, formerly with IPC Print Services.
FLM Graphics in Princeton, NJ, is celebrating its 35th anniversary. The company’s founder, Frank Misischia, has grown the operation from a small commercial printing and architectural reprographics shop into a full-service, digital printer and digital asset management provider.
The Best of Show Award at the Star of Excellence Awards, hosted by the Printing Industry of Minnesota, went to Imagine! Print Solutions of Minneapolis. Competing against 294 entries, Imagine! won Best of Show for its “Book of Dreams” submission.
Anderberg-Lund Printing of St. Louis Park, MN, purchased a Canon imagePRESS C1 digital printer and hired two new technical employees to help run its new digital printing department: Mark Luger, digital solutions director, and Todd Baker, digital solutions manager.
At the 2007 North American Dalim Software Users Organization (DUO) annual meeting, Lee Edberg, central premedia manager at Waseca, MN-based Brown Printing, was elected president of the organization, while Brent Kantola, prepress manager at Ravenna, MI-based Rogers Printing, was elected vice president.
The new executive vice president at Cadmus Publisher Services Group of Cenveo is Harry R. Vinson, who is now responsible for all sales and manufacturing efforts. Before his recent promotion, Vinson served as Cenveo’s senior vice president of purchasing and logistics.
A 2007 EPA Environmental Quality Award, the agency’s highest form of public recognition, has been presented to Carlstadt, NJ-based Pictorial Offset for the firm’s outstanding commitment to protecting and enhancing the environment.
With more than 27 years of printing industry experience, Ken Swanson has been appointed executive vice president of sales and business development at New York City-based EarthColor. Swanson most recently served as director of business development within Eastman Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group.
AlphaGraphics of Salt Lake City has appointed Art Coley as its new senior director of franchise development, responsible for leading the firm’s franchise growth and building its network to more than 500 locations. Coley previously served as executive vice president of franchising for the International Center for Entrepreneurial Development (ICED).
Pennington, NJ-based Direct Group, a provider of high-volume direct marketing services, has named Robert “Kam” Kamerschen to its board of directors. Kamerschen formerly served as chairman and CEO of ADVO, a leading direct mail media firm.
Vertis Communications, of Baltimore, announced the addition of three executives to its leadership team: John Compton, Gregory Kelsey and Steven Schoenborn. As vice president of quality, EHS, training and development, Compton comes to Vertis as the former owner of Compton & Associates. Before joining Vertis as vice president of manufacturing, Kelsey served in a similar position at D.B. Hess. Schoenborn, new vice president of client services, was formerly employed by Gannett Offset in Minneapolis.
Clifton, NJ-based Sandy Alexander has named Cheryl Kahanec vice president and director of digital solutions. Considered one of the printing industry’s leading authorities on variable data applications, Kahanec has held senior management positions with TanaSeybert, Applied Printing Technologies and NEC Inc., as well as having owned her own digital printing business.
Craig Dormanen has joined the sales team of Daily Printing, Plymouth, MN. Dormanen brings more than 25 years of experience in prepress and print sales with him in the position.
