SUPPLIER news

Heidelberg Opens VLF Assembly Hall

WIESLOCH-WALLDORF, GERMANY—Bernhard Schreier, CEO of press manufacturer Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, officially opened assembly Hall 11 here on September 15. The hall measures 375,000 square feet (equivalent to almost five soccer fields) and will be used to assemble a new generation of large-format presses, the Speedmaster XL 145 and Speedmaster XL 162. Heidelberg invested around 45 million Euro in the building, making it the largest input of funds into the Wiesloch-Walldorf site in the last 10 years.

The building’s foundation stone was laid May 15, 2006, and construction was completed in about 14 months. Assembly of the new large-format presses, which support sheets twice the format of existing Heidelberg presses and can produce up to 40 A4 pages on the front/back of a single sheet, began in the hall late last month. The company plans to unveil the new format classes at Drupa 2008 in Düsseldorf.

The architecture of Hall 11 is designed like a press, with paper feeder, printing units and paper delivery. The hall opening also marks the company’s 50th anniversary of the Wiesloch-Walldorf site.

To commemorate the occasion, Heidelberg invited staff, relatives and friends to a family day. Some 40,000 visitors were welcomed to the nine million-square-foot area over the two-day event.

GRAFIX GmbH, a German manufacturer of anti-offset spraying systems, has acquired ConTemp GmbH, a fellow German manufacturer of chilling and fountain solution systems. Chicago-based GRAFIX LP will now be able to offer chilling and fountain solution systems to its product line, which currently consists of powder extraction and drying systems, including UV, IR and hot air.

Multiple Press Listing Service, a new online exchange for the graphic arts, was launched at Graph Expo last month. Through the www.MPLSguide.com Website, potential buyers and equipment owners can interact directly. Buyers can place bids on equipment directly on the Website. A variety of support services are also being offered, including rigging/removal, trucking, installation, plant relocation, storage, service and financing.

IMC America announced that its line of automatic blanket washers from Elettra has received the status of “Qualified Vendor” and is an approved auxiliary for Goss S-2000, S-3000 and S-4000 web presses. Fastwash, from Elettra, offers computer-controlled precise spray of solvent and water onto a dry cloth cleaning system with extremely short in-production washes as fast as 9 to 12 seconds. Complete cleaning of the press blankets is achieved “on” impression without slowing the press speed. The results are fewer waste copies and low cost per wash.

Saepio Technologies announced that John P. Thomson has joined the company as president and CEO. He brings more than a decade of experience to the position.

Office Depot has forged a partnership with Xerox Corp. to provide a package of digital solutions available through Office Depot’s Design, Print & Ship Depot locations throughout the United States. The companies have developed the “Xerox Certified Print Specialist” program that will train Office Depot personnel to provide customers with a full range of enhanced digital solutions, including wide-format printing and color analysis.

Unisource Worldwide has made two key leadership appointments in its paper business segment. Ken Winterhalter has been promoted to president, and Glenn Barton has been named senior vice president, sales/paper, reporting to Winterhalter.

Joe Bowman has joined Wausau Paper as an outside sales representative to manage and further develop the company’s printing and writing sales efforts in California.

Brandtjen & Kluge has hired Steve Kurdziel as its new Western region sales manager with responsibility for sales in California, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Alaska, plus British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

Seeking to streamline its consultancy and M&A endeavors in the region, The Open Approach has set up a new branch office in Northern California. Talmadge Steele has joined the firm to manage the office, which is located at 39 California Ave., Suite 206, Pleasanton, CA.

MAN Roland announced that it recently made a Gold Partner donation to the Graphic Communication Institute (GrCI) at California Polytechnic State University in San Louis Obispo, CA. The GrCI is an action-oriented think tank that conducts research, testing, product evaluations and seminars for the printing industry. Its mission is to promote print as the most effective form of communication.

Under a new multi-year agreement, Graphic Innovators will now provide sales and marketing services for Jetweb Corp. across the American continent.

At Graph Expo last month, Esko and Artwork Systems made their debut as the merged company EskoArtwork. The companies joined forces to better utilize their complementary strengths in the packaging and commercial printing market segments, and to leverage the power of their combined global customer bases. Carsten Knudsen, CEO of Esko-Graphics A/S, will retain that position in the combined group. Guido Van der Schueren, currently chairman of the board of directors of Artwork Systems Group NV, will become the chief commercial officer.

Prism USA has announced the promotion of Michael Kinnear to the new position of operations manager of North America, where he will be responsible for managing day-to-day operations and directing the company’s national implementation staff. Kinnear was senior product manager with Latran Technologies (formerly Polaroid Graphics Imaging) before joining Prism as a sales rep in 2006.

Charles Knott has assumed the CEO role at Flint Group, succeeding Dave Frescoln who became deputy chairman of the company’s board. Knott previously led global specialty chemical companies within Unilever and ICI. Frescoln will continue in a full-time capacity, with responsibility for representing the organization to the outside trade environment, trade associations and major customer groups, as well as lead its further development in emerging economies.

Daniel C. Maffeo has been appointed as vice president of sales, and Richard Czarnecki has been named vice president of technology at Superior Printing Ink. Maffeo joins Superior after a 20-year career with Fuji Photo Film, where he rose from account representative to vice president and general manager of sales. Czarnecki, a 25-year industry veteran, most recently served as director of polymer science and engineering at Sun Chemical’s Technical Center.

Steve Listro has been promoted to director of packaging for the Eastern region at KBA North America with responsibility for packaging and folding carton accounts. He will also continue in his position as Northeast district sales manager.

Mohawk Fine Papers is now number 22 on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Top 25 List of Green Power Partners, which is comprised of companies that voluntarily purchase green power as a way to reduce their environmental impact and promote the development and use of renewable energy resources. The company also is on the EPA’s list of 100 Percent Green Power Partners because it uses 100 percent wind-generated electricity to power its paper manufacturing operations.