Heidelberg

BY ERIK CAGLE Quad/Graphics has installed the latest design in Ferag gathering/stitching/ trimming systems at its plant in Lomira, WI, marking the third such system installation for Quad. The new system includes six log-fed feeders, which transport signatures to a rotary gathering drum, then to a shear-cut trimmer. According to Frank Arndorfer, Quad/Graphics' vice president of finishing operations, adding the third Ferag unit bolsters the company in a number of ways. The Ferags are the workhorses on the shop floor. "We lean toward Ferag because we have an application for production that requires more of a Gatlin gun approach—high volume and relative ease of use," Arndorfer says.

PLYMOUTH, MN—Watt/Peterson, a sheetfed printer based here, will become the latest entrant in the competition to consolidate the graphic arts industry, if the plans set in motion recently proceed as anticipated. Revealing a "long-term strategy of creating a national provider of high-quality graphic arts services ranging from high-quality sheetfed printing to cost-effective web printing, binding and mailing services," the company, and neighboring rival Cimarron Printing, have merged to form a $32 million company under the banner of a new umbrella organization, Printing Partners of America. "Increasing competition has generated a wave of consolidations within the printing industry, making it more difficult for mid-size operations

BY ERIK CAGLE When is a floor model saddle stitcher not a saddle stitcher? When does it become a perfect binder? Ask Bob Morton, president of Best Graphics, one of the nation's leading bindery product distributors. Best Graphics will be introducing the Best Osako 612 UB 'reverse stitcher' to the U.S. market later this year. The innovative machine will produce books that appear to be perfect bound, despite the fact they are produced on a stitcher. In essence, it's the look of a perfectly bound book at saddle stitcher cost; but there's more to it than the bottom line. The reverse stitcher is designed

San Ramon, CA—K/P Corp. has been busy in the first half of 2000. It has invested more than $6 million company-wide to upgrade equipment, move to a more digital workflow and expand services to new markets. To improve distribution and take advantage of the emerging opportunities in e-commerce product fulfillment, it opened a 12,000-square-foot mailing and fulfillment facility in Vista, CA, and a 14,000-square-foot mailing and fulfillment center in Atlanta. The company's Salem, OR, plant is also anticipating growth in mailing services and has also invested in new mailing equipment. K/P Corp.'s printing production capacity is also on the rise. Its Salt Lake City

Tom Tran arrived in the United States in 1975—broke and alone. Today, he owns a successful printing operation in the Silicon Valley. BY CAROLINE MILLER Tom Tran's story is the very definition of an American dream. It is the story of a penniless refugee who finds his way to America and, through sheer determination, hard work and a little bit of luck, builds his fortune. It is a story many people have come to regard as myth and legend. But Tom Tran has proven that legends do exist. Today, Tran is the owner of Citation Press, a $6.5 million company located in Santa

BY ERIK CAGLE One by one, John Fosmire, president and CEO of Los Angeles-based Anderson Lithograph, clicked off the names of former commercial printing contemporaries who had sold their interests to industry consolidators. It was as dubious a list of names as the would-be survivors who had been voted off the island. "Other than our acquisition by Mail-Well, I can't name any high-end lithographer that increased sales or was a better company a year after being acquired," Fosmire remarks. "Maybe (name withheld to protect the guilty), but I don't think so." Fosmire, a 40-year printing veteran, rattles two more possible names off the top

BY ERIK CAGLE Aretha Franklin herself would have a tough time drumming up a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the coldset web offset press. While its heatset counterpart struts on by, wearing UV Ray Bans and leading the way as the prime choice for high-end, multi-color commercial work, the dryer-less stepchild ekes out a living churning out newspapers, direct mailers, promotional graphics and other types of printed communications, primarily on uncoated stocks. Even manufacturers and distributors of open-web presses believe the market for this type of machine has been declining in recent years, but it remains a viable, strong option in several print communications segments. Like

Streamlining prepress production with PDF optimizes cross-platform functionality and consistent, predictable output. While some commercial printers are content to watch PDF's development, others are embracing the still-emerging technology full force. Which approach is yours? BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO This is the second installment in Printing Impressions' ongoing look at PDF workflows in practice at a variety of commercial printing and digital prepress operations. Part I appeared in the June issue. PDF FILES are independent of platform or operating system. PDF files are small and self-contained, with fonts, images and graphics embedded within each PDF document, streamlining electronic transmission and preflighting. PDF files offer

It is increasingly difficult to find major vendors that have not jumped onto the XML bandwagon. Adobe, Agfa, Heidelberg and MAN Roland have teamed up to develop the Job Definition Format (JDF) using XML, while CreoScitex and Quark are both building XML-based applications to drive their own systems. In the e-commerce space, printCafe, PrintTalk—a nascent group of firms—and others are building transaction and supply chain management systems based on eXtensible Markup Language. Not to be left out, the on-demand group PODI has published a specification called PPML—Personalized Print Markup Language—based on this spec, and still another industry initiative, called the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP),

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY —With more than 450,000 visitors and more than 1,900 exhibitors, could any one, single event be more of a global measuring stick for technology trends and new directions for the printing industry than DRUPA 2000—a 14-day mega-event that took over this charming river city? On the technology for digital printing—the show's highlight—and digital prepress, DRUPA 2000 accomplished the following key objectives: * The global move toward accepted, viable on-press imaging and true production digital color presses—built for even the most traditional of commercial printing operations. Signalling a new direction for digital printing at DRUPA 2000, Presstek, supplying on-press