SUPPLIER news
American Firms Win High Honors
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY—Winners of the Sappi International Printers of the Year awards for 2006 were announced at a gala event held here at the Museum of Applied Arts. The nine winners were chosen from 33 finalists in the following categories: annual reports, books, brochures, calendars, catalogs, general print, magazines, packaging and labels, and printer’s own promotion.
North American firms bringing home the cast bronze elephant trophy included Nahan Printing, St. Cloud, MN, for its Bergdorf Goodman Magazine Resort/Holiday 2005 in the magazines category and Cenveo Anderson Lithograph, City of Commerce, CA, for the 2006 Cadillac XLR brochure in the brochures category.
Tom Bayer, previously a manager for commercial press installations for Goss International, has been promoted to Southeast district sales manager for Goss commercial web and print finishing products. He replaces N. Joseph Romain who will retire after 32 years of service.
Day International, a manufacturer and distributor of consumable products, plans to establish a new technology, manufacturing and training center to support its Chemical Products division serving Varn customers in the Americas. Over the next several months, the division will consolidate its current R&D and manufacturing operations, and relocate them to the new facility in Batavia, IL.
All outstanding shares of Smith RPM, a Lenexa, KS-based manufacturer of web offset press dampening and blanket cleaning systems, have been purchased by a group of key employees and Swedish firm Evello Marin AB. Dennis Schupp is the new company president and Jessie Brunk is now vice president.
Stora Enso has appointed Claus Wich as vice president of purchasing and logistics for the North American region. Nancy Nyberg has been tapped for the position of merchant sales director, East. Also, the company reports Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of its Productolith coated printing paper. All Productolith gloss, dull and matte sheet shipments are now FSC-certified.
KBA North America is strengthening its sales team and dealer relationships by making a number of new appointments. In its West Coast territory, Rick Parks will be overseeing the district sales managers as the new regional vice president of sales. On the East Coast, Jeff Tignall has been given responsibility to handle sales for the Mid-Atlantic region. For the dealer market, Dan Macke is now responsible for the KBA dealer network as the distribution manager. Also, Steve Korn has been promoted to director of book markets. He will continue to work in his sales territory of Illinois and Michigan.
Standard Finishing Systems has promoted George Vergilis to director of sales. Vergilis will retain overall sales responsibility, and a new national sales manager will be added to the team to coordinate field sales programs and activities.
Expanding the benefits of its print- services coverage, MAN Roland recently certified St. Louis Metallizing as its primary cylinder reconditioner for sheetfed and web offset presses. St. Louis Metallizing utilizes a thermal spray coating process for cylinder surfacing.
Pace Systems Group has formed the Pace User Group, establishing a community for customers that provides an organized opportunity to exchange ideas, network with peers and communicate with Pace Systems Group management to help establish development priorities.
Bill Bonallo, former president and CEO, and Steve Barberi, former COO of Technotrans America/IST sheetfed division in Corona, CA, have announced the startup of a new company, Absolute Graphic Technologies USA.
Wausau Paper announced three new hires to manage and develop the company’s printing and writing sales efforts. Dan Reeves has joined the company as Western regional sales manager, and David Shelton is the new Eastern regional sales manager. Daniel Hoffman has been tapped as business development manager, responsible for creating demand for Wausau Paper products in targeted market segments.
Eastman Kodak named Jon Bracken as vice president of marketing and channels, workflow and prepress equipment (WPE), for its Graphic Communications Group (GCG). In his new role, Bracken is responsible for all WPE marketing initiatives, including product launches, advertising, branding and customer development.
GMG Americas, the U.S.-based office of Germany-based GMG, a supplier of color management and proofing solutions, is moving its headquarters to larger facilities in Hingham, MA.
Xerox Corp. has invested $1 million in a partnership with The Nature Conservancy to strengthen and advance practices used to conserve the world’s forests. The investment—the largest Xerox has ever made in an environmental partnership—will develop science-based tools, practices and systems that the paper industry can draw upon to better understand and manage ecologically important forest land.
H.R. Margolis Co. and Becker & Co. announced their merger as MargolisBecker. The two companies are CPA firms providing financial and management services to the graphic communications industry. MargolisBecker will maintain its current operations in the Washington, DC, and Philadelphia areas. Leadership of the new company will be shared by Bart Krupnick and Joe Becker in the Washington office and Stuart Margolis in Philadelphia.
Gämmerler plans to open a new manufacturing plant and headquarters in Palmetto, FL, in the spring of 2007. The new facility will house in-line finishing equipment, provide roughly 35 percent of annual global production capacity and improve operational efficiency.
Harris & Bruno International recently played host to more than 35 sales representatives, sales managers, and sales and service associates throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. With the recent acquisitions of Kemp Products and ESS, Electro Sprayer Systems, there have been many new product and company developments, spurring the need for an international sales meeting.
Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses has appointed Angel Beltran del Rio to the sheetfed sales team as district sales representative covering Southern California and Las Vegas.
The corrugated and folding carton operations of Bobst Canada will now be fully supported by, and fall under the auspices of, Bobst Group USA.
La Crosse Litho Supply has purchased five acres of land in the Sussex Corporate Center for its new headquarters. The company recently broke ground at the site, located in Sussex, WI. The facility should be ready for occupancy in mid-to-late 2007. PI
