PITTSBURGH—July 17, 2008—Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2008 InterTech Technology Awards. For over thirty years, recipients of this prestigious award have not only had a major impact on the graphic communications industry, but they also consistently prove to be successful in the commercial marketplace. The independent panel of judges deliberated over technology submissions ranging from consumables to MIS systems to large-format presses. A recurring theme with 2008 InterTech nominations was process efficiency; submissions contained solutions to automate production steps, provide in-line process control, and manage production. Great strides in technology were also
Heidelberg
KENNESAW, GA—July 14, 2008—Proteus Packaging has become the first U.S. company to purchase Heidelberg’s new Speedmaster XL 145 press — one of two very large format (VLF) press models Heidelberg unveiled at drupa 2008. The Franklin, Wis.-based folding carton producer chose the 6-color Speedmaster XL 145 press with inline aqueous coater to upgrade its pressroom and keep the company competitive in a challenging marketplace. The new machine will be the first VLF press from Heidelberg installed in North America. Proteus expects to replace two older VLF presses with the XL 145, thanks to major gains in efficiency expected with the new press. “Our existing
HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—On the heels of a successful Drupa that produced 1.1 billion or more euros in new sales, press manufacturing heavyweight Heidelberg announced a cost-cutting plan aimed at generating 100 million euros in savings by 2011 to counter what it views as sluggishness in the market and rising costs. Among the measures Heidelberg has planned is moving production of a small-format press to a site in the United States. The United States represents the largest market for the press, according to Heidelberg. Production plants in China and Slovakia will also be expanded. Overall, 500 worldwide jobs will be shed by the end of FY
DRUPA’S STANDING as an international printing exhibition makes it the place to see the course of technological development in the industry laid out for the next four years. As even the following press and postpress wrap-up stories note, digital printing technology had its strongest showing yet. Even the developments in digital workflow were muted by comparison. Many of the product introductions were already covered in one of the Drupa Countdown stories published in editions of Printing Impressions leading up to the show. Therefore, this wrap-up will primarily focus on what was new in Düsseldorf. The event lived up to its billing as The Ink-Jet
THOUGH SEVERAL of the press conferences and ”big news” at Drupa centered around digital printing, innovations in bindery and finishing were no less prevalent. In fact, many of them sprang from the very digital printing trends that overshadowed them. As digital printing speeds have increased, bindery equipment has also gotten faster, with vastly improved automation and simplified touchscreen controls to make them even easier to set up. JDF compatibility is becoming more common in bindery equipment, allowing devices to be preset using production data. Demands for higher-quality printed products have led bindery vendors to improve their paper-handling techniques. Folds look better on the latest
LOS ANGELES—Installation is now underway at Anderson Lithograph, a Cenveo company, for the first of two eight-color Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 presses with coaters. Both presses are equipped with the latest color control systems—Prinect Press Center with Intellistart, Wall Screen and Prinect Axis Control closed-loop color. The press currently being installed is a conventional machine,…
KENNESAW, GA—June 18, 2008—Installation is now underway at Anderson Lithograph, a Cenveo company (NYSE: CVO), for the first of two Speedmaster XL 105 8-color with coater presses from Heidelberg. Both presses are equipped with the latest color control systems — Prinect Press Center with Intellistart, Wall Screen and Prinect Axis Control closed-loop color. The press currently being installed is a conventional machine, while the second machine has both conventional and UV capabilities, plus Heidelberg’s special plastic kit to enable more efficient printing on plastics and synthetic substrates. The new presses will provide significant productivity improvements, enabling Anderson Litho to provide additional print capacity
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—On the opening day of Drupa, Maria Manns paid a visit to the Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) booth, and Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberg, was on hand to welcome Drupa’s most senior visitor. Manns was born in September 1910 in Düsseldorf and was sent to work in the print shop run by her father, Hermann Stapperfenne, at the age of five. The company mostly produced account books for wholesale companies on a Tiegel press from Heidelberg. Over the years, the print shop invested in a Heidelberg four-color press and, in 1945, Manns took over her father’s business, which she continued to run
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—06/12/2008—On the last day of the drupa trade show, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is encouraged by the result of the event. “At this point, of course, we can only give our first impressions of how drupa has progressed so far. We will only be able to say with certainty how the interest shown by buyers ultimately translates into real orders and whether it generates actual sales when we publish information on the first quarter at the start of August. I can say, however, that we have so far met our expectations,” declares Bernhard Schreier, Chief Executive Officer at Heidelberg. Customers from 85 different
DÜSSELDORF, GERMAN—June 5, 2008—World Environment Day - Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be offsetting the environmental effects of all print products created in the course of the day at the drupa industry trade show. This includes prepress, press, and postpress. All CO2 emissions generated indirectly on this day will be offset by investing in a climate protection project complying with the internationally recognized Gold Standard through the Swiss charitable foundation myclimate. This will ensure that unavoidable emissions are offset by climate protection measures elsewhere. In concrete terms, in a region of India, electricity and heat will be generated from biomass that was previously burned
