SUPPLIER news

Open House Demo Tour Is 'Spot' On GURNEE, IL--Fujifilm Graphic Systems U.S.A. partnered with GFI Innovations to offer a four-month, 26-city tour that included live demonstrations of GFI's new Mx6 Series ink formulation dispensers. The Mx6 demos offered printers a firsthand look at how spot-color dispensing can be done with ease, speed and accuracy.

Most events were two-day, demonstration-only open houses held at Fujifilm facilities, with some shows attracting more than 50 attendees. Technical seminars were also held at many of the open houses. Some topics covered included fountain solution maintenance, fighting calcium on presses, blanket installation and maintenance, environmental products, and ink-related issues.

Pictured here, Rob Luehrsen (right), GFI Innovations director of technology and operations, demonstrates the Mx6 ink formulation dispenser during an open house in Savage, MD. Joining him were (counterclockwise) Brian White,of Creative Print Group; and Rod Ambrose and Linda Brant of Fujifilm.

manroland is now offering online price quotes for its Roland 50 and Roland 200 small-format presses through the firm's Website, www.manroland.us. Printers can review info about the presses and receive an e-mail reply.

NELA has established an agreement with Punch Graphix to assume first-tier service, parts and support responsibilities for all existing Strobbe plate bending equipment installed worldwide.

KBA North America has named Doug Whitacre as its new vice president of sales for both pre-owned equipment and national accounts.

John Graff is the new Eastern regional manager for sheetfed presses at Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses U.S.A., responsible for managing sheetfed press sales in the Eastern United States, including the Mid-Atlantic and New England states.

At StockLayouts, customers can now purchase and download its fully-designed templates via a three-month, one- or two-year subscription, and can use the templates to create printed marketing materials for more than 21 business categories.

The supervisory board of Heidelberg has appointed Stephan Plenz to the management board. Joining the company in 1986, Plenz has held various senior positions at Heidelberg. He was appointed manager of the Wiesloch-Walldorf site in 2006, and is responsible for global production.

Rob Ferragina has joined Mohawk Fine Papers as regional sales manager and will supervise sales and specification activities across the New York metro and Mid-Atlantic regions.

A new agreement has been made between EFI and SmartLinc Channel Sales. The agreement expands both EFI's and SmartLinc's joint sales, support and development efforts, and moves first-level support to EFI personnel.

Unisource Worldwide plans to offer NewPage Corp.'s coated digital product line in all markets in the United States. The company also reports that it is now the only national distributor of MeadWestvaco's Tango product line.

Stephen Green has been tapped as vice president of marketing, prepress solutions, for Kodak's Graphic Communications Group. Green, who joined Kodak in 2005, has served as the regional business vice president of prepress solutions, Asia Pacific region, at Kodak's Graphic Communications Group. He will continue to be based in Singapore.

Essex Products Group has signed an agreement to purchase GRIPdigital Inc., which will expand its KeyColor line to include color measurement products. The company also reports that Greg Imhoff, the founder and president of GRIPdigital, has joined Essex as director of color solutions. PI