Graphic Arts

NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies elected three new directors at its annual meeting in October. The new directors, elected to three-year terms expiring at the 2005 annual meeting, are: H.A. Brandtjen III, president, Brandtjen & Kluge, St. Croix Falls, WI; John Hamm, vice president of marketing, Xerox Corp., Worldwide Graphic Arts Business, McLean, VA; and Juergen Stolt, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Pantone Inc., Carlstadt, NJ. In addition, Edward McLoughlin, president of Oxy-Dry Corp., and Prime UV Systems received the 2002 Harold W. Gegenheimer Awards for Industry Service at the NPES conference. Enovation Graphic Systems has named Paul

Howard Fenton has joined the staff of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), Paramus, NJ, as a senior consultant of digital technologies. Previously, Fenton served for six years as the senior consultant of digital technology for the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation. The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) has granted $275,000 in scholarships to a total of 202 students pursuing careers in the graphic communications industry. PGSF awarded 99 of the scholarships to women and 103 to men. Also, Brown Printing, Waseca, MN, recently pledged $50,000 to establish the Wayne "Bumps" Brown Honorary Scholarship. After the fund matures, the scholarship will be awarded

ALABAMA BIRMINGHAM—Community Newspaper Holdings has purchased a 14-unit double-around press from Dauphin Graphic Machines. The six DGM 850 units and two DGM 860 towers will be used to print The Sharon Herald and The New Castle News, both in Pennsylvania. MONTGOMERY—Davis Printing has implemented Printcafe's PSI print management system. california NAPA—Label printer Jonergin Pacific completed a full conversion to CRC Information Systems' THE System accounting package in just one week. OXNARD—Ventura Printing is now producing pocket folders, CD wallets, packaging and boxes using a new Kluge UniFold folding and gluing system. The employee-owned company has been in business for 56 years. SAN

The Printing Industries of America and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have entered into an agreement to establish a collaborative relationship to develop printing industry-wide voluntary guidelines to reduce injuries. The Graphic Arts Employers, a committee of PIA that serves unionized printers, has committed $20,000 in resources to begin the project. The alliance agreement will stress outreach and communications with the industry, promote a national dialogue on workplace safety and health, and improve training and education on ergonomics issues. EU Services, Rockville, MD, recently promoted two members of its customer service department to senior account managers. Lisa Fish has been an account manager

By Erik Cagle Say what you want about 2002, but very shortly you'll be able to say these two magic words: it's over. By nature, printers are optimists. So are trade magazine journalists. Thus, coming off a dreadful 2001, horribly punctuated by a reeling economy and the September 11 attacks, most industry people were forecasting a much-improved 2002. No one was ready to pop the champagne cork, but a marked improvement was in the offering, with a strong economic rebound catapulting revenues heading into 2003. Better days, like Godot, never arrived. To say 2003 cannot be any worse than 2002 is tantamount to whistling

PITTSBURGH—Do film-based plates require fewer remakes than digital plates? A survey of 29 companies conducted by the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) and the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) produced some interesting results. Participants were asked to choose from a list of likely causes of plate remakes and record them for 30 consecutive days. In all, data was recorded on roughly 55,100 plates (42,600 digital and 12,500 film-based). The leading remake causes for film-based plates were plate wear (17.7 percent), voids (8.1), register (6.6), plates not stored (6.2) and changed press (5.5). For digital plates, the top causes were plates damaged on-press (9.1

Efforts Undertaken to Stimulate Digital Printing Business CHICAGO—Digital printing equipment might as well carry a warning label—"Customer education required!"—given how often that need is cited as the reason for the slower than expected development of the market segment. Several new programs recently have been introduced by industry groups and companies to try to fill the void. "Designing4Digital" is a new customer education program launched at Graph Expo last month by the Digital Printing Council (DPC) of Printing Industries of America (PIA). This multimedia "outreach toolkit" reportedly is designed to help printers educate their customers about the benefits and techniques of digital printing, thereby

BY CHRIS BAUER While some sectors of the graphic arts industry moved to a more automated and computer-dependent process years ago, binding and finishing equipment seemed to lag behind. At Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2002, it was apparent that the bindery is no longer the blue-collar cousin of the pressroom and prepress department. Automation can now be found in just about every corner of the bindery. Today's newest machines incorporate operator touchscreen interfaces, servo motors and automated makereadies. And with industry standards such as JDF and CIP3/CIP4 slowly catching on, an even more sophisticated, computer-integrating finishing department is on the horizon. Software for

By Mark Michelson SEWICKLEY, PA—The weather was warm and the leaves still green on trees blanketing the hills surrounding the headquarters of the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF), located just outside of Pittsburgh. But Christmas still came early with the official dedication of its recently donated four-color, 38˝ MAN Roland Rotoman heatset commercial web press equipped with auxiliaries gifted from several manufacturers. Held September 19th, the "Webtoberfest" celebration—complete with German fare, oompah music, and an assortment of German Octoberfest beers and wine—was attended by about 350 industry dignitaries, including GATF board members and staff, industry suppliers, association execs, as well as a special delegation from

PARAMUS, NJ—Two of the leading educational associations in the commercial printing industry have teamed up to add more value for their respective memberships. The National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) and the Research & Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts Industry (R&E Council) have agreed to a merger. The latter is being renamed the R&E Council of the NAPL, with all members of the R&E Council and their companies enrolled as full corporate members of NAPL. The R&E Council of the NAPL will be managed from the NAPL headquarters located here. R&E Council Managing Director Ron Mihills will join NAPL as the council's