Offset Printing - Web

EMMAUS, PA— August 13, 2007—Overbridge Technology has responded to the needs of the web printing industry with two new additions to its line of award-winning EclipseCount products. The original EclipseCount (now renamed EclipseCount-DL) has been joined by EclipseCount-XA and EclipseCount-CB. With the addition of its newest enhancement, FlexCount, EclipseCount-XA now has ‘no comparison’ in the industry due to the technology and methodology it uses for signature counting. Principal Mark Daugherty described the new version as ‘the signature counting and log monitoring solution for presses equipped with sophisticated automated signature handling and robotic palletizers.’ With the FlexCount enhancement on EclipseCount-XA, there are many options to use -

CHICAGO—July 30th, 2007—Goss International will highlight its position as commercial web market and technology leader on booth 3041 at Graph Expo in Chicago from September 9-12. Emphasis will be on the gapless Sunday press range, new high-productivity Pacesetter 2200 and 2500 saddlestitchers and comprehensive Lifetime Support aftermarket services. “Our presses and finishing systems continue to set the innovation standard, and we continue to augment our platforms with Automatic Transfer technology, pinless folder developments, new automation features and other breakthroughs,” explains Graham Trevett, Goss International vice president of sales for the western United States. “Graph Expo provides a great chance to update printers and discuss how

LIVONIA, MI—July 20th, 2007—Valassis (NYSE: VCI) announced today that it will install a new Goss Sunday 2000 web press at its Anderson Printing Division (APD) in September 2007. The 24-page gapless press will print up to 77,600 impressions per hour and will be used primarily to produce versioned runs for the company’s shared mail products. “We need a high-productivity press that is also agile enough to excel in a makeready intensive environment,” said Aaron Trager, senior vice president, APD. “The Sunday 2000 technology will give us that key combination.” The new four-unit Sunday press at Valassis will be equipped with a Goss Contiweb CS splicer, an

HAMBURG, GERMANY—July 13, 2007—Gruner + Jahr’s American offset printing subsidiary, the Brown Printing Company (BPC) is celebrating its 50th anniversary on July 13 in Waseca, Minnesota. In the lead-up to the anniversary, the G+J executive board has approved a $38 million investment in expanding the BPC plant in Woodstock, IL, to increase BPC’s capacity. The money will be used among other things to buy a two-web 64-page offset press, an adhesive binder, a gang-stitcher and a new building annex. The new production facilities are scheduled to take up operation in summer 2008. G+J had invested $55 million in expanding the printing capacity in Waseca as

ST. CLOUD, MN—07/05/07—The first 10-unit Rotoman press in North America has arrived at Nahan Printing, Inc. in St. Cloud, Minnesota. “After doing our research, we concluded it was the best piece of equipment for the market we serve,” states Joel Meyer, VP Sales and Marketing at Nahan Printing. The new Rotoman press from MAN Roland will help expand Nahan’s capabilities and its brand, according to Meyer. “This investment illustrates our commitment to high quality products and innovation, as well as our mission to exceed the expectations of our customers,” he says. “Tactically, it enables us to increase our product offerings, flexibility, options, and redundancy for

WHAT CAN be said about the future of offset technologies? Well, plenty, and while news and views are mixed, there are many reasons to be optimistic. On the eve of the Web Offset Association’s “Offset and Beyond” 2007 55th Annual Management & Technical Conference, Printing Impressions spoke with a number of leading experts to learn where they think the offset sector is headed over the short and long term, and why. Offset Growth: An Oxymoron? Traditionally, the printing industry has tracked the GDP at a slightly higher rate. With the advent and growing popularity of color reproduction from the late 1980s through the early

IN THE world of business, sometimes recognizing an unprofitable trend is as important, or perhaps more so, as spotting a lucrative one. Take the Wilen Group, a family owned and operated company based on Long Island, NY. Founded in 1972 as a publishing firm from the basement of Richard Wilen’s house, the company quickly made a name for itself as a publisher for the cable television industry and an original vendor to the cable TV circuit. In fact, it produced the first HBO guide in 1973. When the pay-per-view craze hit in the late 1980s, Wilen Group took the lead in producing booklets for

THE CLIMATE of the printing industry changes with print media competition growing, weekly news reports of consolidations, and daily challenges from a myriad of resources and technology innovations. Companies make over their names, add processes, rework their customer bases, add new mixes to their repertoire of services, and leverage the Internet and other new technologies. The industry is vibrant, exciting and changing—and we recognize this. What does not change is the need for individuals to keep abreast of the management trends, operations and production issues related to the printing and graphics community. With that as the backdrop, the board of directors of the Web Offset

FROM NEWSPAPER publisher to newspaper printer, Bartash Printing has been around the block. And, considering its location—Philadelphia—that block is pretty historic. Philadelphia is the home of America’s first and foremost printer: Ben Franklin. And, like Franklin, who started out with very little, local printer Joe Bartash started out small before hitting it big. Bartash Printing, one of the largest cold web printing companies in the Philadelphia region, was started 55 years ago by Bartash to print his weekly newspaper, the Southwest Globe Times. In 1962, Joe’s son-in-law, Sidney Simon, joined the company. During the next 45 years, Simon and his son, Michael, built the

FOR SOME, it’s a matter of survival and, fortunately, given the state of the newspaper industry, for others, it’s a matter of growth. In either case, newspaper/publication printers running coldset web offset presses are expanding their product ranges or delivering greater value to existing customers. Through increased automation, newer technologies (like UV inks), new presses, new publication configurations, or some combination of these options, printers are offering both internal and external clients production efficiencies and the opportunity to upgrade to color quality levels that have greater appeal to advertisers. Ron Magee, pressroom manager at the Carroll County Times, Westminster, MD, reports that last summer