Heidelberg

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—The addition of new Heidelberg M-600 and V-30 web presses for Trend Offset Printing's headquarters facility will put the company in the unique position of reportedly running not only the greatest number of M-600 printing units in North America, but also the highest number of V-30 printing units worldwide. "By having similar, versatile press equipment at each of our [three] locations, we have significantly increased our ability to adapt to what our customers need," explains Bill Martin, Trend Offset's national vice president for manufacturing and procurement. "The common platforms create a consistency in quality and efficiency that our customers can rely on." Trend

By Erik CagleSenior Editor Although the company itself is 179 years old, Courier Corp. has the vitality of a teenager. The North Chelmsford, MA-based book printer found the fountain of youth courtesy of a comprehensive strategic planning process that began in 1990 and provided Courier with a sleek, sexy and, most of all, fiscally lucrative overhaul. The publicly held printer shed a number of markets, and the company that once published newspapers and dabbled in commercial work narrowed its focus to three book manufacturing segments—education, religious and specialty trade. The results have been outstanding. Through the first nine months of 2003, Courier has enjoyed

GLASTONBURY, CT—Chatham Printing, a family-owned business formerly based in Newington, CT, plans to reopen this month. Now known as The Chatham Group, and located here, the printer features many of the same staff and services, plus a few new offerings. "As with Chatham Printing, our new operation is a mid-sized, sheetfed shop with capabilities ranging from two- to six-color, museum-quality reproduction, in-house diecutting and fulfillment services," says Dave Eck, president of The Chatham Group. "In addition, we're also offering some new Internet-based solutions," he adds. Eck and his father, Jim, made the decision to reopen Chatham after an unsuccessful joint venture that recently dissolved.

PENNSAUKEN, NJ—Defying the challenging economic climate, Inserts East is proving that a niche and a knack for service can still be a powerful formula for growth. Gene Maiale, company president, does not hesitate when asked how his company has kept growing in tough economic times. "This is a people business, and it's all about service," he explains. Maiale credits his sales and customer service organization with cultivating tremendous customer allegiance. That is especially important for a printer in the insert market, where local and regional retailers and grocery chains typically sign long-term contracts for weekly or monthly print runs. The organizational structure at

Lastra America has merged its Western Lithotech and Lastra America operations into a single business unit, Lastra America, headquartered in Danbury, CT. PagePath Technologies has, for a second time, received the Product of the Year award from the PrintImage International association, formerly the National Association of Quick Printers (NAQP). During the association's annual conference, PagePath was presented the award for its PDF2U Web-based orderflow system. xpedx Import Group, the exclusive Ryobi distributor in the U.S., has named Graphco, of Solon, OH, as its dealer for Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. Muller Martini has appointed Thomas Duckett as its New England sales manager. He now heads sales

California Dreamin' You're terminated Arnold Schwarzenegger. Grow up Gary Coleman. Don't vote for a hustler named Larry Flynt. Printer John Beard Jr.—whose family runs Los Angeles-based G2 Graphic Service—has thrown his hat into the ring as a Republican candidate in the recall election for governor of California. The 41-year-old is running on a pro-business platform. "California has customers just like I do," Beard points out. "It just calls them residents. This state would be in a lot better condition if its government treated the people of California like customers, not tenants." Beard knows well the importance of exemplary customer service. Armed with an

VERNON HILLS, IL—Scheduling flexibility is what sets Aim Business Printers apart from other printers, asserts Richard Sussman, vice president and general manager. To support production of run lengths that vary from 500 to 1 million sheets, the shop installed a PlateRite 4000II thermal plate recorder and Trueflow PDF workflow from Screen (USA). It also implemented Screen's Spekta hybrid AM/FM screening technology. (www.screenusa.com) NORFOLK, VA—The Virginian-Pilot (daily circulation of 200,000 copies) has purchased two Polaris X violet-laser computer-to-plate platesetters from Autologic, an Agfa Co. (www.pilotonline.com/www.agfa.com) HOUSTON—Champagne Fine Printing is adding an HP Indigo digital printing press to assist clients in

alabama MONTGOMERY—The installation of an Agfa-based CTP system has been completed at Montgomery Living Press. Its Apogee Create Series 3 workflow and EskoScan F14 are now in full production along with the Agfa Xcalibur 45 with online TP 105 plate processor. arkansas ROGERS—The RoArk Group will implement a fully integrated software solution from CRC Information Systems, including THE System's Commercial Estimating, Dynamic Scheduling and Automatic Data Collection modules, as well as complete accounting, fulfillment and e-commerce applications. california OXNARD—Custom Printing has purchased a 28˝ Heidelberg cylinder diecutting machine to bolster its workflow. The new equipment is expected to more than double the speed of

PITTSBURGH—The Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) has announced the 13 recipients of the 2003 GATF InterTech Technology Awards. "This year's awards showcase the industry's growing attention to flexographic printing, ink-jet and soft proofing on a contract basis, and digital in-line finishing," says GATF Research Director John Lind. He also observed that automation combined with productivity and ROI continues to be a strong trend among the InterTech nominations. GATF has sponsored the InterTech Technology Awards as a service to the graphic communications industry since 1978. The 2003 award recipients are: Plate Cell Patterning, part of Artwork Systems' Nexus product family, is a software

BY MARK SMITH The only constant may be change, but things have gotten pretty quiet on most fronts of the digital revolution in printing. Even computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), arguably, is more about a workflow evolution than revolution. One area that remains unsettled is proofing. Decades after the first digital systems were introduced, the industry is still debating what's the "right" solution. It's probably not reasonable to think one solution could meet the needs of every print shop and application. Nonetheless, the proliferation of systems is leading print execs to ask, "Why do I have so many proofers in my shop?" A related question is