Offset Printing - Web

ONCE A year, the Web Offset Association (WOA) selects one printing industry executive who has reached an unsurpassed level of excellence and industry achievement to receive its Harry V. Quadracci VISION Award. Ken Field Sr., president and CEO of Itasca, IL-based Continental Web Press, meets these qualifications. Field has operated his company with a “boutique mentality,” focusing on fulfilling the individual needs of customers, investing in new technology and placing a strong emphasis on employee training. Because of his outstanding achievement in creating one of the most successful commercial printing operations in Chicago from the ground up, and his continued involvement with industry organizations,

OUR BELOVED printing industry is forever wrestling with economic uncertainty, while simultaneously marching in the vanguard of one technological revolution after another. Small wonder, then, that users of so-called “conventional” offset technologies have grown particularly adept at the kind of strategic logrolling that is an essential survival skill in this “pushmi-pullyu” business environment. In 2008, negative economic variables like the housing glut, the mortgage credit crisis, rising oil prices and a looming recession, along with print-positive developments like election-year spending, will have their respective down and up pressures on the offset sector. With the 2008 edition of the annual Offset and Beyond conference slated

WITH THE 2008 election cycle in full throttle, the operative word is change. . .as usual. The printing industry is not immune to the calls for change. Our history demonstrates our mastery of change. With the ripple effects of the housing mortgage meltdown, energy prices spiraling out of sight, healthcare costs rising and the drumbeat of a recession, do we have a choice but to change? No. But what we change will separate the printing companies as leaders or laggards. Actions we continue will be as important as actions we start or stop. In every downturn, whether it is an official recession or not,

JIM ANDERSEN is arguably the most well-known figure in the direct mail printing realm. The president and CEO of Chanhassen, MN-based IWCO Direct was a key advocate in the decade-long struggle to enact postal reform, which was finally achieved at the end of 2006. He met with politicians and sat down with key leaders of other industries to protect the interest of their common goal: a viable, enduring U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Andersen took the helm at IWCO Direct in April of 1999. As an equity partner, Andersen tapped his wide-ranging business experiences in guiding IWCO Direct—experiences that include more than 20 years in

HOW’S THIS for a five-year plan? Buy three companies—web offset, sheetfed and digital—and meld their operations, people and cultures into a cohesive whole. Along the way: • Take Hi-Liter Graphics (acquired in 2003), in Burlington, WI, from a black-and-white nonheatset web offset shop into full-color heatset capabilities, and ultimately install the first MAN Roland Euroman 32-page, four-color web press in North America (the second globally); • Transition Inland Graphics (acquired in 2004), of Menomonee Falls, WI, back into commercial work while still maintaining its strong position in the book printing market; and • Expand Menomonee Falls-based Plus Digital Print (acquired in 2007) into full-color,

LONDON—Although Komori announced several innovations that will be highlighted under its “Five Solutions” banner in Hall 15 at Drupa 2008 next month, the spotlight will shine most brightly on the brand-new Lithrone SX40 (LSX40) sheetfed press platform. During a recent pre-Drupa press event held here, Komori America officials revealed that the LSX40 will become commercially available in January 2009. Capable of speeds to 18,000 sph and accommodating a 41˝ sheet size, the six-color LSX40 press with coater enables a 50 percent reduction in job changeover times, making it highly efficient for short runs. This is due, in part, to new KHS-AI “advanced intelligence” sheetfed

BOLINGBROOK, IL—March 25th 2008—Goss International will demonstrate an all-new printing concept at drupa 2008, unleashing significant productivity and economic advantages for the production of high-quality, B1-format sheeted products. The Goss web press system with M-600 printing units and innovative new sheeter technology will operate at up to 30,000 sheets per hour at drupa. The new sheeter, developed exclusively in partnership with VITS, will allow web printing on coated stocks with standard sheetfed inks, but without a dryer. “The potential to produce equivalent products at much higher speeds than with a sheetfed press, with a competitive investment cost and labor requirement, presents a strong alternative

HIROSHIMA, JAPAN—03/20/08—At drupa 2008, Mitsubishi will be exhibiting the largest number of printing units the company has ever brought into a single event. All presses are sheet-fed models from the new Diamond V3000 Series first introduced last September at the International Graphic Arts Show in Japan, but in model variations that have never been shown before. “Net Production Nets Profits” is the theme on Mitsubishi’s stand at drupa, and press demonstrations will focus on the unparalleled levels of productivity that each different model delivers. Mitsubishi’s lineup will include a six-color Diamond V3000LX with coater and extended delivery, an eight-color DIAMOND V3000R convertible

WILLISTON, VERMONT—03/18/08—KBA North America, a global press manufacturer, will be exhibiting its entire range of cutting-edge sheetfed presses at Drupa 2008, from the compact 20-inch to its large format units, with a raft of new features and technological innovations. The focus of its huge 36,800 sq ft stand in Hall 16 will be on new productivity- and efficiency-enhancing automation modules, inline finishing, inline quality management and green printing technologies. Drupa, scheduled for May 29 to June 11, is the industry’s premier printing event held every four years in Düsseldorf, Germany. Four years ago at Drupa 2004 KBA set the tone with

BOLINGBROOK, IL—March 5, 2008—With the theme New Ways for Print, Goss International will demonstrate innovative technologies, unique opportunities and an expanded application range for web offset production at drupa 2008. A new Goss press system will be in full operation at the show, incorporating technologies that create a unique and highly productive alternative for some traditional sheetfed applications. Additional printing unit exhibits on the Goss International stand in hall 17 will include Magnum 4, Uniliner, FPS and Sunday 4000 models, all with new features and capabilities. The company will also highlight the world’s first 96-page Sunday 5000 web press and demonstrate its latest