GBC

Viewing On Demand BOSTON—Changing locations continues to be part of the story from the On Demand Conference & Expo, which last month completed its 2007 run at the (nearly) new Boston Convention & Exposition Center (opened in 2004). The event first moved from its long-standing home in New York City to Philadelphia for a two-year stint and now on to Boston through 2008. Close to 200 exhibitors had booths in the On Demand portion of the show floor, which the event continues to share with the AIIM Expo. New, or at least now commercialized, color printing systems added up to the largest category

Bobst Providing Bindery Direction ROSELAND, NJ—Intrigued by barbecues under the stars, a car show and rally—and yes, let’s not forget binding and finishing gear—roughly 450 people from 171 different plants made their way here for the Direction ’06 Open House sponsored by Bobst Group USA. The show, held September 21-26 at Bobst’s Demonstration and Training Center, showcased the company’s folding carton and commercial printing solutions for customers and prospects alike. A total of nine Bobst technologies were on display. On the commercial printing end, diecutters such as the SPanthera 106-LER, SPeria 106-E and the SPrintera 145-PER drew attention from visitors, along with the SPeria Foilmaster 102. Jerry

ULTIMATELY, THE common goal among the manufacturers and suppliers of finishing and bindery equipment at Graph Expo (and any trade show, for that matter) is to place their equipment in as many shops as possible. But, as a commerce vehicle, companies displaying their wares approach the annual Chicago event with different goals in mind. Every year there’s a degree of spin doctoring that takes place in the trade press. A show’s attendance can drop 20 percent as tumbleweeds bounce off stitchers and binders, but some writers will rave about how many of the leads were high quality. Frankly, it’s generally 50/50 or slightly in

AWAY FROM the churning of offset presses and clicking of bindery machinery, a buzz was emanating from the comparably quiet booths containing consumable product vendors at Graph Expo—a buzz caused by new product announcements, enhancements and other newsworthy scuttlebutt. Toyo Ink America, for instance, showcased a comprehensive lineup of inks for sheetfed and web printing applications. Ink products that debuted at the show included: Kaleido four-color process ink; edible inks; heatset web inks; the Scuff Tuff SG process series; and the Aqualess Ultra process series. New non-ink products from Toyo included the TOYO 1050 Color Finder system, with color matches for 1,050 colors that are

IT MAY be telling that, with a few exceptions, the presses in operation around the show floor of Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2006 were of the digital variety. Offset units were conspicuous in their absence. Digital presses largely have become part of the commercial printing mainstream, rather than being a specialty product segment or market niche. The exhibition’s Wide Format Pavilion showed ongoing interest in that segment, but adding a wide, large, superwide or grand format digital system still is seen as a way to diversify rather than being standard equipment. Hewlett-Packard shared results from an InfoTrends study that surveyed a sampling

Gämmerler will launch the BL 408 bindery stacker for use behind saddlestitchers, perfect binders, folders and inserters. Features wide format range, two-stage stacking system and a low copy drop height. The infeed is equipped with four top belts and eight bottom belts. Visit www.piworld.com/infocenter and enter number 381 Goss International will unveil its Pacesetter 2200 and 2500 saddlestitchers. The systems feature servo-driven hoppers and excel at quick makereadies. The Pacesetter 2200 system completes up to 22,000 books per hour. The Pacesetter 2500 model features a dual stitcher and a 25,000 books per hour capacity. Visit www.piworld.com/infocenter and enter number

Presses Head for Hawkeye State HIAWATHA, IA—Two 41˝ KBA Rapida 105 sheetfed presses with coaters have been installed at Cedar Graphics. The first press is a six-color Rapida 105 sheetfed press; the second is a 10-color, five-over-five Rapida 105 long perfector with a roll-to-sheet feeder. CALIFORNIA GLENDALE—Color Depot has installed a Kluge EHF series press. The print trade shop included the preload continuous magazine option that allows the machine to be reloaded while in motion (for continuous feeding). The EHF press will be used primarily for foil stamping and embossing small boxes and CD sleeves. SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO—A new six-color Komori Lithrone 28

by Chris Bauer Managing Editor The press manufacturers’ “big iron” may have taken up mammoth amounts of floor space and received the lion’s share of headlines at PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05, but not to be forgotten are the booths often found on the fringe of the McCormick Center’s halls. Here, there was plenty of news to be found from paper, ink and other consumables providers. For example, while donning white lab coats, executives from International Paper announced that its entire range of uncoated freesheet papers for imaging, commercial printing, envelopes and forms would be improved to a new standard of whiteness and

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor Getting customers to stop by their booth was the No. 1 challenge facing manufacturers, suppliers and distributors during PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 in Chicago. Be it food, beverages, magicians or professional pool players, those exhibiting knew that getting one's attention was as critical as spreading their company's gospel. This is particularly true for those purveyors of binding and finishing equipment, which offer such a vast array of products and services that it's easy for attentions to get divided. The key was in seeing those attentions get conquered. For example, Standard Finishing Systems and Horizon International made a

Quad Bindery Crew Cranks Out Jobs LOMIRA, WI—In today's competitive, "must have it yesterday" stitched catalog market, speed and overall output capabilities are the keys to success. At the Quad/Graphics facility here, the production crew is setting the pace for stitching speed and output utilizing a Tempo saddlestitcher from Muller Martini. The Quad Tempo is capable of running at 20,000 cycles per hour and the crew was recently recognized with an "Excellence in Finishing" award as the highest producing saddlestitching team among Quad's arsenal of more than 100 machines. Quad/Graphics' LHT-132 team relies on its 36-pocket Tempo saddlestitcher for production output that enables Quad to