Heidelberg

MAN Roland Technicians Get Golden ToolsOFFENBACH, GERMANY—Two American technicians were honored recently for completing the 1,000th MAN Roland mechanical systems course at the company's training center here. As a result of the hands-on coursework, the technicians, Warren Collins and Greg Voigt, received their gold wrenches and are certified to install and get U.S. customers up-and-running on Roland 700 presses. Heidelberg USA has realigned its operations into four business segments: Digital, Postpress, Sheetfed and Web. Niels M. Winther, a 34-year veteran with the organization, has assumed responsibility as head of Heidelberg's Market Center North America (U.S. and Canada). Appointed to head the four U.S. groups

TWINSBURG, OH—Oliver Printing recently completed installation of the world's first Heidelberg Quickmaster DI Pro. The printer showcased the new press at its annual client appreciation night on October 4. The new direct imaging press at Oliver Printing builds on the successful Heidelberg CP2000 concept. It provides users with an ergonomic work area, facilitates procedures and simplifies with the whole process of press operation. All settings, including the status of current processes, display on a clearly arranged user interface in the form of a touchscreen. Proactive status messages and features, such as job previews, automatic color presetting and feeder display, make for easy handling. The Quickmaster DI

BY MARK SMITH Cut, knife, blade, guillotine—the terminology alone explains why safety is a must when it comes to paper cutters. Two-handed cut activation, non-repeat knife cycles and auto-stop infrared light curtains are just some of the safety features that have been mandated by law or become standard due to market demand. Neither the equipment manufacturers nor buyers are willing to compromise much in this area. While safety still is an important factor in the decision to buy a new cutter, it is an advantage more or less shared by all state-of-the-art models compared to older machines. It is in the area of productivity

RICHMOND, VA—Worth Higgins & Associates, a leading general commercial printer in the state of Virginia, has broken ground on a 13,500-square foot addition, doubling its manufacturing space, and the company is adding new equipment and preparing for a shift in ownership. Among the incoming hardware is a new 40˝, six-color Komori sheetfed press, slated to go online next March, as Worth Higgins expands beyond the half-size market niche it has occupied since 1970. Other new arrivals include a CreoScitex platesetter and a TD78 Heidelberg Stahl folder. Retiring Chairman E. Worth Higgins is selling the company he founded to his employees, crediting them with the success the

CALIFORNIABUENA PARK—Ernest A. Lindner, printer, collector and founder of the International Printing Museum, passed away on October 2. BURBANK—Richard Rice, president of Candlelight Press, announced that two long-term employees, Richard Alonzo and James Magdaleno, are the USA National Print Olympics champions. The competition was held during PRINT 01 in Chicago, where the contestants were evaluated on their offset press skills. Alonzo and Magdaleno qualified for the national event after winning the western regional competition. They will contend for an international championship at IPEX, held in Birmingham, England, in April 2002. SAN RAMON—K/P Corp. recently announced a collaboration with Ariba Inc., a business-to-business e-commerce

BY MARK SMITH A first-time buyer recently posted a message on the CTP Production forum seeking recommendations for "CTP systems" to investigate. The quote marks are important because the term itself sparked a divergent thread in which the question of what CTP means was explored. This discussion started with a response suggesting the buyer consider the Rampage solution, since it produces plate-ready files. A rebuff quickly followed, asserting that Rampage was not a "system," meaning a piece of hardware capable of writing an image to a digital plate. That, in turn, led to a series of exchanges about whether CTP refers to any

BY ERIK CAGLE Of all the businesses that are vulnerable to a nocturnal attack by would-be robbers, a commercial printing company seems among the least likely to be targeted. That didn't stop a gang of thieves from conning their way into One Source Digital Solutions and making off with approximately $250,000 in prepress equipment and damaging a press to the tune of $500,000 while trying to steal it. In the process, the robbers bound and gagged the only employee who was on duty, only after asking him specific questions pertaining to the equipment and stealing his pickup truck to aid in the equipment

HAGERSTOWN, MD—Fresh off the installation of a Heidelberg Speedmaster 102-6-P sheetfed press, HBP Inc. has entered the third phase of its multimillion dollar expansion program.HBP has broken ground on a 40,000-square foot addition to its facility here, virtually doubling the company's operating base. The completion of the addition is expected this fall, followed by a…

BY CAROLINE MILLER What do you get when you mix two 23-year-old night shift pressmen, a $15,000 loan, the dream of being your own boss, no sales experience, a little luck and a lot of hard work? Answer: a $22 million company. The story of Charlotte, NC-based Classic Graphics might sound a little unorthodox to most, but owners David Pitts and Bill Gardner have never been ones to hold with tradition. "It was absolute ignorance on our part. We had no idea how hard it would be," remembers Pitts."We were just two pressmen working together at a local printing company. We thought that starting our own print shop

While many industrial companies are feeling the crunch with rising energy prices, Bolger Concept to Print has reduced its energy costs by installing a new dry running combination pressure/vacuum pump on its Heidelberg Speedmaster 102V sheetfed press. As a result, this full-service commercial printer, located in Minneapolis, received a rebate check for more than $900 from its local energy company, Xcel Energy. Bolger Concept to Print was using an oil-recirculating, rotary vane combination pressure/vacuum pump on its Heidelberg press. After several years of operation, the performance of the vane pump was starting to deteriorate due to high temperatures. And, with the constant over-heating, it eventually