SUPPLIER news
Ovalstrapping Inc., manufacturer of strapping equipment and strap, announces the retirement of Jack White as president, concluding a 49-year career. David Lamb will assume the presidency. Lamb has been a member of the board of directors of Ovalstrapping for more than 10 years.
As a distributor of pressroom automation, IMC America has agreed to represent two suppliers of press delivery equipment. IMC has signed an agreement with RECMI Industrie, manufacturers of fully automatic horizontal stacker/bundlers, rotary trimmers, overhead conveyors and palletizing systems. In addition, IMC will represent semi-automatic stacking systems and robotics designed and built by Penn Graphics.
Kolbus America announced it is relocating its North American headquarters from New Jersey to Cleveland, OH, to be more centrally located to its customers. The Caxton Building, located at 812 Huron Road, will be the new home of the Kolbus North American corporate headquarters. The relocation is expected to be completed by September.
Pantone Inc. and Xerox Corp. have formed a partnership to apply the PANTONE Matching System to the Xerox DocuColor 6060 digital color press.
Equipment distributor Fuller Grafix has moved it headquarters to Wood Dale, IL. It has also expanded its service and parts departments with trained service personnel.
MBO America recently accepted the Gold Backer plaque as sponsor of the IAPHC 29th International Gallery of Superb Printing Best Folding Project Award. As the framework of its culture, the pursuit of excellence and precision are goals that MBO America embraces and cultivates in others, the company said in a statement.
NAK Marketing & Communications, an agency that has served many of the leading brands in the graphic arts industry for over 14 years, has launched a new enterprise called MarketingMentors. The new division is dedicated to helping printers, prepress providers and trade binderies market their capabilities and sell their services.
Creo Inc. and Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) have signed an agreement whereby Creo will supply the new Lotem 200K platesetter for sale with the KBA Genius 52 sheetfed offset press in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Under the terms of the agreement, Creo will provide marketing and sales support for KBA, as well as customer installation, service and training for the Lotem 200K platesetter and related products.
Pantone Inc. has announced the appointment of William “Buzz” Apostol as vice president of sales, Western Hemisphere.
Sinar Bron Imaging has announced that Jeffrey McPhie has joined the company as regional sales manager, Mid-atlantic region. McPhie comes to Sinar Bron from Visual Aids Electronics, where he was national sales manager.
American Thermoplastic, a manufacturer of custom imprinted ring binders, index tabs, pocket folders and related loose-leaf products, celebrated its 50th anniversary in May.
GRAFIX has appointed Domenic DiRenzo to the role of vice president, national sales, and Vince Kowalski to the position of technical salesperson.
Tembec Paperboard Group has introduced its Quick Turn Program. The program promises to deliver: Kallima Coated Cover C1S Plus in 8-, 10- and 12-pt.; Kallima C1S Blanks in 15- and 18-pt.; sheets dimension 10x16˝ (min.) and above; and delivery within two to five business days. Tembec reports it guarantees no minimum order; custom and stock skid; and shipping directly to the printer’s floor.
Todd Bills is the new product manager of Muller Martini’s Book Binding Division. He is responsible for technical sales support for the complete line of perfect binding and hard cover systems.
Xerox Corp. has named Rick Mangold, former manager of worldwide sales operations for Hewlett-Packard’s Indigo subsidiary, as vice president, business development, for the Production Systems Group.
Kathy Walters, president and CEO of Sappi Fine Paper North America, has left the company to become president of Georgia-Pacific’s Commercial Business. Dr. John Job, executive director of technology for Sappi Limited, Sappi North America’s parent company, became interim president and CEO of Sappi Fine Paper North America on April 26 pending the appointment of a successor to Walters. He is based at the regional headquarters in Boston while retaining his current responsibilities.
Agfa Corp. announced a new product in the company’s Services portfolio. :IntellSyst promises faster response times, higher equipment uptime and more effective, proactive maintenance of Agfa systems. :IntellSyst exchanges information between the customer installation and Agfa’s Enterprise Server automatically and at regular intervals. It checks critical parameters such as the power of the laser of a platesetter, the temperature of processing baths or the disk space available on a workstation running the production management software.
Eastman Kodak has appointed Barbara Pellow as chief marketing officer and vice president, commercial printing. Pellow has more than 20 years of experience in digital printing and publishing with a variety of companies and organizations.
TOPPAN Printing has developed a high-quality, industrial use, ink-jet printer, which they will use in their internal printing facilities and also begin selling to other printing companies. TOPPAN’s ink-jet printer incorporates UV curing technology to solve a common ink-jet issue, which is to produce print quality equal to offset printing that is also water-resistant. The new printer incorporates two Fusion UV Light Hammer 6 (LH6) UV curing systems.
Ed and Donna Swaneck of distributor Swaneck Graphic Equipment are retiring after 40 years in the graphic arts business. Walter Gierlach, an 18-year veteran of the company, has started Pro-Graphics Network at the same location. Gierlach will also bring WinAmerica Inc., Wally G. Press & Bindery and The Photo Tex Group into this facility.
Todd Chesnut has been elevated to the position of vice president of sales at the Case Paper division in Chicago.
H.S. Boyd Co. has opened a technical sales office in Tampa, FL, to support customers in the Southeastern U.S. Frank Rieder will support technical issues.
Kyocera Mita America has named Steven Pearl director, product and solutions marketing.
Integrated Color Solutions (ICS) has appointed Sherwood Wong to the position of director of sales, Western region. He is based in the ICS Carlsbad, CA, office.
Enovation Graphic Systems bid farewell to president and vice chairman Jim Mullan on March 31, marking his retirement and ending a 34-year career in the graphic arts. Mullan was named president of Enovation when the company was formed in October 2001 and has served as its vice chairman since April 2003. In other news, Lawrence Warter, director, new business development, is the eleventh recipient of the Roland Zavada Standards Award, “The Rollie,” presented by The Committee for Graphic Arts Technologies Standards (CGATS). The award was presented June 9 during the IPA Technical Conference in Chicago. The award recognizes an individual who has made significant and sustained contributions to the development of U.S. graphic arts standards through participation in the work of accredited standards committees.
Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) and Screen (USA) are building a better partnership. After selling 31 Screen platesetters during the month of March, KPG has announced an agreement under which KPG now offers co-branded KPG/Screen CTP and workflow solutions to customers in the United States and Canada. Under the agreement, KPG markets, sells and supports the following Screen thermal platesetting devices: PlateRite 4100 and 4300 four-up platesetters; PlateRite 8600, 8000II and 8100 eight-up platesetters; and the PlateRite Ultima series of large-format platesetters for four-up and larger commercial printing and package printing output applications.
Jon Surch has been named vice president of service, sheetfed operations, for MAN Roland. Juerg Spittler has been promoted to vice president of business development, sheetfed operations. He previously served as assistant vice president of sheetfed operations. Chris Howes has been appointed assistant vice president of sales support, sheetfed operations. A 23-year MAN Roland veteran, Howes previously served as the company’s director of sales administration.
The 2004 NAGASA board of directors is in place with the following appointments. Manufacturer/distributor directors: Rich Burke, Dupont Imaging Technologies; Wayne Bell, Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging; Howard Zucker, Pic Graphic Products (distributor); Bob O’Neil, Alameda Co.; Cathy Cartalano, Mitsubishi Imaging; and Gail Smith, Presstek. Dealer directors: Gene Brett, E. Thomas Brett Business Machines; Brian Kroot, Northeastern Graphic Supply; Barry Budwit, Pitman Co.; Roger Bland, Royce Photo/Graphics Supply; Alan Hillman, Standard Dynamics; Patrick Patton, Standard Graphics Mid-Atlantic; Tim Dunn, United Printing Equipment; Evan Cambray, Cascades Resources; Tom Bassett, Image Depot; and Steve Scharfstein, SAS Graphic Supply. The executive committee is: Chris Manley, Graphco, chairman; Patty Alvarez, Intermarket Corp., treasurer; and Don Harvey, xpedx, vice president, dealers/resellers.
Converting Resource Network is celebrating its new identity as Technifold USA to reflect its alliance with the UK-based manufacturer of the Tri-Creaser and Spine Creaser.
