American Express Publishing

The benefits are tangible: PDF preserves file integrity, allows for more predictable final output and facilitates smooth, cross-platform publishing. Is PDF right for you? For your customers? Six commercial printers tell their tales. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO (Editor's Note: This article is the first in a two-part series focused on PDF workflows in place at a range of commercial printing operations.) It can, if created correctly, embed images and fonts within a single file, eliminating the problem of missing elements. It can be used for remote proof routing between designer and prepress provider. It can act as the digital master throughout an entire CTP

San Francisco—The Quebecor acquisition of World Color Press dwarfs any other merger and acquisition news in the printing industry, but the industry's other players have not been idle in the past weeks. Perhaps most notable was the news that yet another company has joined an increasingly crowded field of companies seeking to consolidate the still-fragmented North American commercial printing market. The new kid on the block is San Francisco-based Kelmscott Communications LLC, and its first major deal is the acquisition of three printing companies: Watermark Press in San Francisco; Printing Control in Seattle; and Commercial Printing/CDS in Medford, OR. The three boast aggregate sales

NEW YORK—In a transaction valued at more than $100 million, and one that marks the emergence of another major consolidator in the graphic arts industry, Integrated Graphics (IGI) has purchased the assets of seven graphics, printing and digital output service facilities. Five of the firms—Cedar Graphics, Empire Graphics, JFB & Sons Lithographers, K2G Graphics and Tam Communications—are based in the New York City/Long Island, NY, region. The other two acquisitions are Houston-based Emmott-Walker and International Color Services, of Phoenix. "Integrated Graphics was created to capitalize on the growing trend among customers to buy from fewer suppliers able to provide them with full service and integrated

ENFIELD, CT—Greenwich, CT-based World Color Press has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire Infiniti Graphics, a leading Connecticut-based commercial printer. Infiniti had revenues of more than $20 million in 1998. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition is World Color's 22nd since 1993 and its second in as many months. Operating from a 72,000-square-foot facility here, Infiniti competes in the commercial, direct response and publication markets. The 115-person company currently produces more than 1 billion pieces of printed material per year, including brochures, booklets, inserts, reply cards and magazine reprints, according to Infiniti officials. Clients include Advo, American Express Publishing,