SUPPLIER news
Milestone Printing Unit Celebrated
Radebeul, Germany—KBA North America reports that the 100th Rapida printing unit of the super large-format series was put through its final print testing at the KBA plant here recently. The unit is part of the five-color Rapida 205 purchased by Integra-Color in Mesquite, TX. The 80˝ sheetfed press has been configured with a special board-handling package and is also to be equipped with UV facilities for printing on plastics. It also incorporates an ICS slitter system and non-stop pile changing for the feeder and delivery.
Reseller Agreement Inked at Trade Show
CHICAGO—During PRINT 05, Muller Martini and Kodak signed a reseller agreement, under which Kodak Versamark will provide its continuous ink-jet printing systems to Muller Martini for mounting on the Muller Martini Concepta variable size web offset press. The result is a hybrid printing system that is fully integrated into the workflow of the Concepta press. Shown announcing the agreement are, from left: Homi Shamir, CEO Kodak Versamark; Dr. Juergen Dillman, managing director, Muller Martini; Antonio Perez, CEO, Eastman Kodak; and Rudolf Muller, CEO, Muller Martini.
Sun Chemical announced the alignment of its North American inks businesses to better serve its customers in different market segments. The organization has organized around three distinct markets: Publication, Packaging and Commercial. To support this alignment, the following personnel changes were announced: Chris Parrilli was named president, North American publication inks; Richard Pettifor was named president, North American packaging inks; and Mark Levin was named president, North American commercial group. In connection to this reorganization, Brad Bergey has elected to resign from Sun Chemical. Most recently he served as president of Kohl & Madden.
Jetrion, the wholly owned industrial ink-jet products and services subsidiary of Flint Ink, will begin moving its operations in early 2006 to a facility with more than three times the space of its current building. Located in Ypsilanti, MI, the new facility will provide Jetrion with 35,000 square feet of floor area to accommodate an expansion of Jetrion's ink-jet ink manufacturing capacity.
Heidelberg has added a six-color Speedmaster CD 102 press with UV capabilities to its 33,000-square-foot Print Media Demonstration Center (PMDC) in Kennesaw, GA. Equipped with UV, conventional and hybrid capabilities, the Speedmaster CD 102 shown in the PMDC currently is being used for weekly demonstrations, as well as pre-training for customers who have purchased the press. In other company news, Karl Saueressig became head of worldwide product line management. He succeeds Bent Mortensen, who now heads the Asia-Pacific region.
Mohawk Fine Papers announced that entries for its seventh annual Mohawk Show are being accepted through May 31, 2006. Five Best of Show winners will be selected (the traditional four top winners and a special award to be announced later this year) and honorable mentions will be chosen for distinctive works that the jury would like to recognize. Winners will receive a three-night trip to the Sundance Film Festival or choose to accept a $3,000 cash award instead. To be eligible, entries must be printed primarily on one or more of the products in the Mohawk Fine Papers line.
Bielomatik Leuze GmbH and Gateway Bookbinding Systems have formally announced their partnership as allies in the field for the development and ongoing enhancement of high-volume automated solutions for plastic spiral binding.
Action Envelope reports it has installed a new Halm Envelopemaster 5315. The trade printer offers standard and specialty printed envelopes in 122 sizes, 25 styles and 110 colors.
Wausau Paper announced that Kelly Kubisiak has joined the marketing department for the company's Printing and Writing segment. Kubisiak will serve as marketing communications manager where she will oversee public relations, trade advertising, print promotions, Website development and trade show work. Also, Craig Truemper has joined as technical director for the company's Printing and Writing sector. Truemper joins Wausau Paper from Fraser Papers.
Dennis Dessilla, director of corporate finance and administration at Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses, has been named director of sheetfed sales. Also, Richard Cochran has been named project manager. In this newly created position, Cochran will be responsible for facilitating the most advantageous match between customer needs and Mitsubishi Diamond Series sheetfed presses.
KBA North America announced that Michael Mugavero, KBA eastern regional vice president, has been given added responsibilities. In addition to overseeing six district sales managers, Mugavero will also oversee KBA sales efforts in Canada, from the Maritime Provinces west, excluding British Columbia.
Jason Elliott is the new director, service support operations, for the Web Service group at MAN Roland. Since April 2003, Elliott has served as commercial print trainer for the group. Also, Eric Scherner has joined the company as service manager, commercial web segment.
Kodak has unveiled a new Kodak Service & Support organization within the Graphic Communications Group. Three vice presidents have been appointed to manage the service business. They include: Roger Lines, Europe, Asia and Middle East region; Art Gable, Americas region; and Louis Law, Greater Asia region. In other news, Kodak has also created the Creo Print On-Demand Solutions group to expand the supply of digital color servers for digital presses to a variety of partners.
NES, a provider of lithographic plate handling systems, has combined its U.S. and U.K.-based companies into a single global presence called NES Worldwide.
Graphics Microsystems has named Gary Wetzel to the position of president and CEO. Prior to joining GMI, Wetzel held industry positions at Von Hoffmann Corp., Quebecor World and within Heidelberg Web Systems, both domestically and internationally.
