Best Graphics

Four MAN Presses Star at Newspaper INDIANAPOLIS—The Indianapolis Star has begun putting its new $72 million production facility to work, producing advertising sections on the first of four MAN Roland Geoman presses that are scheduled to print both daily and Sunday editions of the paper by mid-July. The new press hall encompasses more than 30,672 square feet on two levels. It is at the heart of a 260,000-square-foot complex, called the Pulliam Production Center (PPC) after the publishing family who led the Star over the past five decades. Stitcher Added to Handle Sales Boom QUINCY, IL—JK Creative Printers has purchased an Osako saddlestitcher from

CALIFORNIA GARDENA—L.A. Press is up-and-running with a new six-color, 40˝ Mitsubishi Model 3F-13 sheetfed press. IRVINE—Orange County Printing has installed a six-color, 40˝ Komori Lithrone press outfitted with a Tri-Service ColorCommand temperature control/cooling system. VAN NUYS—The installation of the Sentinel ink management system from Accel Graphic Systems is complete at Great Western Litho. The ink management system is now equipped on a Komori Lithrone 640 press purchased at PRINT 01. CONNECTICUT MERIDEN—Three former shareholders of Vision Graphics have joined commercial printer Miller-Johnson Inc. They are Tom Mitchell, Andrew Mitchell and Erik Mitchell. The transaction was initiated on Miller-Johnson's behalf by Rampart Associates LLC.

BY CAROLINE MILLER In the world of saddle stitchers and bookletmakers, machinery is king. "The emphasis is on the equipment," reports Ron Bowman, vice president of sales and marketing for Rosback. Ease-of-use, automation, reliability, flexibility, versatility and productivity are just a few of the advances touted by saddle stitcher and bookletmaker manufacturers these days. Many of these innovations have come as a result of the growing industry trend of putting relatively unskilled employees in the bindery, while still demanding that the products they produce be as perfect as possible, reveals Bowman. Rosback offers the Setmaster Stitch/Fold and Trim bookletmaker, an in-line or off-line unit

BY ERIK CAGLE Freedom of choice, from a consumer standpoint, is a double-edged sword when your pool of choices is a veritable ocean. Anyone in the graphic arts industry knows what it means to have an unlimited array of manufacturers. It's the old deer-in-the-headlights syndrome—there are far too many choices and simply not enough time in the day to do sufficient homework that would yield an educated choice. At the end of the day during Graph Expo, printers riding the shuttle from the exhibition hall back to the hotel frequently wonder aloud, "You know, I looked at so many systems today—and I still

BY ERIK CAGLE When is a floor model saddle stitcher not a saddle stitcher? When does it become a perfect binder? Ask Bob Morton, president of Best Graphics, one of the nation's leading bindery product distributors. Best Graphics will be introducing the Best Osako 612 UB 'reverse stitcher' to the U.S. market later this year. The innovative machine will produce books that appear to be perfect bound, despite the fact they are produced on a stitcher. In essence, it's the look of a perfectly bound book at saddle stitcher cost; but there's more to it than the bottom line. The reverse stitcher is designed

In today's fiercely competitive, price-sensitive commercial printing market, printers have two options: Make it or break it. Minneapolis-based Cooperative Printing came face to face with that decision in 1992, when the company's executives were forced to re-evaluate their then-struggling, 60-year-old printing operation. To keep up with competitive shops in the Twin Cities, Cooperative Printing decided to embrace technology and install an automated pressroom with equipment designed to meet buyers' demands for quality, turnaround and cost-effectiveness. "Changing market trends required us to automate our manufacturing process to remain profitable," says Cooperative Printing General Manager Dennis Hanson."The PlateMaster 72/hdp (computer-to-plate and halftone digital proof system) eliminates the necessity