Delphax Technologies

Exhibitors Promise a Super Drupa DUSSELDORF, GERMANY—As an international group of journalists gathered at the fairgrounds for a preview, the countdown to Drupa 2004 clicked past the 100 days threshold. Scheduled once every four years, the 13th installment of this world market for print media, publishing and converting is slated to run May 6-19, 2004. Playing off the Olympic motto ("faster, higher, farther"), the slogan for Drupa 2004 could be "prettier, faster, more reliable," suggests Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann, president of the event and CEO of Koenig & Bauer AG. "Print products are becoming prettier. Print services will have to be delivered ever faster in

A Strong Finish Optimism was sky-high throughout the exhibit halls during GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO, held in Chicago this past September. Why? A sizeable segment of the vendors noted that there appeared to be more printers and trade finishers touting checkbooks—and fewer tire kickers at McCormick Place. Whether it is the first signs of economic recovery and prosperity in this country remains to be seen, but big crowds on the show floor was certainly a good sign. And it wasn't just the prepress and press vendors that reported brisk activity—those pitching finishing products found the latest GRAPH EXPO to their liking. "We did

Colter & Peterson announced that Bill Dwyer has been appointed as its new manager in charge of dealer sales for Saber, Prism, Schneider Engineering and Maxima Plus paper cutters, as well as Knorr, Rachner and Schneider paper handling equipment. Van Son has appointed Robert Speijer as president of Van Son Holland Ink of America. Van Son's most recent president, Joe Bendowski, has decided to change his responsibilities and begin his transition toward retirement after 40 years with the company. Speijer comes to Van Son with more than 20 years of experience in management and marketing at the international level. In addition, John Sammis, as general

The broader trend toward convergence in the digital printing segment also is evident at the product level. Black-and-white and color printing systems are being enhanced and expanded to meet the needs of corporate and commercial users alike. The trend is reflected in the capabilities and features of the latest product introductions from leading vendors. To expand its market, Heidelberg introduced the Digimaster 9110m network imaging system that uses magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) toner and prints special fonts and characters. It said to enable data centers and transactional printing environments to also do print-on-demand work with normal toner by simply changing developer stations. The

Quad Opens Regional Center SAN FRANCISCO—Quad/Graphics plans to open its newest regional imaging service center here next month. The new center, located in the China Basin area on the east side of the San Francisco peninsula, will become the 16th site in Quad/Graphics' imaging network of regional service centers, customer service centers, processing centers and print centers. The San Francisco site will offer clients face-to-face customer service and on-site color management and output services. Banta Boosts Fulfillment Centers MENASHA, WI—Banta Corp. will open a fourth packaging and fulfillment operation in the Fox Cities. The 210,000-square-foot facility, now under construction, is being developed by Warehouse Specialists and leased

BY MARK SMITH Job Definition Format (JDF) support came the closest to being a theme among prepress exhibits at the recent Graph Expo and Converting Expo 02 in Chicago. The competitive pressure to beat the drum for JDF compliance may be causing an unintended complication, however. There are signs of a growing trend toward JDF being equated with all efforts to digitally integrate the entire print production process, a concept also known as computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM). That leap is not completely accurate, or at least premature. JDF capabilities are not precisely a successor to the CIP3/4 support touted by manufacturers in the

Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. moved into violet imaging CTP technology by previewing three internal-drum systems that feature 30mW laser diodes for exposing photopolymer plates. The Saber Luxel Vx-6000 CTP handles a 29.5x26.4˝ maximum plate size and is offered in manual and semi-automatic configurations. The Saber Luxel V-9600 CTP and Vx-9600 CTP support a 45.7x37.8˝ maximum plate size and initially will be available in a fully automatic configuration. The Vx model supports a slightly larger imaging area and will be offered in manual and semi-automatic configurations in the future. Write in 382 on Reader Service Card Delphax Technologies debuted the Imaggia II series of sheetfed

New Digs for Graphics Microsystems ROCKWALL, TX—Graphics Microsystems (GMI), headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, opened its new 50,000-square-foot facility here in February to increase capacity for its Microcolor ink controls, ColorQuick closed-loop color control systems and PrintQuick color-to-color register systems. The shareholders of Check Technology Corp. have approved a proposal to change the company's name to Delphax Technologies. Rudi Lenz has joined Sun Chemical as senior vice president and CFO. Most recently, Lenz served as president and CEO of Fairchild Aircraft. SICPA North America, a provider of ink solutions to printers of labels, plastic cards, packaging and carton gravure applications, has appointed JoEllen Lawler as director of human