Heidelberg

BY PINCUS JASPERT The world's largest graphic communications supplier, Heidelberg, will be 150 years old in the Year 2000. As such, "anniversaries offer a chance to reflect," Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG Chairman and CEO Harmut Mehdorn told some 60 of the world's leading industry trade magazine editors at an international press briefing held recently in Heidelberg, Germany. The phenomenal growth of the Heidelberg group over the past three years has not only involved going public, but also brought the acquisition of key industry suppliers into the Heidelberg fold, as well as partnerships with such companies as Kodak Polychrome Graphics. With the nature of the business in constant

In an age of consolidation, Dome Printing—a $20 million, family run commercial printing operation servicing clients the caliber of Intel and Sutter Home—is a prime example of what good management, a clean production process and industrial-strength digital color proofing can do to retool a once-traditional printer. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Perfection is one word that must be very near and dear to the Poole family at Dome Printing. Family patriarch and president of Dome Printing, Ray Poole, and his three sons, Tim, Andy and Robert, operate the Sacramento, CA-based commercial printing facility. What makes Dome Printing unique? For one thing, the plant is

SAN RAFAEL, CA—Advanced Digital Graphics, based here, a full-service commercial printer serving San Francisco Bay-area needs, merged late last year with Dallas-based F.Y.I. Inc., one of the leading providers of document and information outsourcing solutions. Terms of the merger, completed Dec. 23, were not disclosed. ADG specializes in markets such as telecommunications, financial, software, computer, corporate, educational, healthcare, manufacturing, retail advertising and design firms. The company was founded in 1983 by Steven D. Skolnik, president. "After much research and consideration, there were a number of factors that made the decision to become part of F.Y.I. a wise one," Skolnik says. "First, it was

When sheetfed printer Spectrum Press expanded into web printing, business management tools helped ease the company's growing pains. BY DENNIS E. MASON Printers looking for a growth formula could do worse than take a page from the book of Roseland, NJ-based Spectrum Press, located just west of New York City. When President and CEO Matthew J. "Matt" Scott started Spectrum Press, he adopted a credo that he says accounts for the company's phenomenal growth: "Never say no to a customer!" According to Matt, "Price is important, but Spectrum Press is not a price leader. We offer higher quality and service than most other printers, but we win

BOSTON—With all the hype and hoopla surrounding the return of Seybold to Boston last month, all roads led to the Hynes Center for the latest advancements in digital prepress, digital printing and "repurposing" content for the Internet. From Adobe to Apple, from Markzware to Epson's Stylus 9000 and from Agfa to Creo, Seybold brought the digital movers and shakers back to Boston, where digital file transfer technologies, digital asset management, color proofing, thermal platesetting and every other degree of digital prepress stood on a very warm, very Bostonian, very welcome, familiar platform. Adobe's John Warnock, president, and Charles Geschke, CEO, laid out their

From Adobe's K2 to Apple's G3, from Markzware's MarkzScout to EPSON's Stylus 9000 and from Agfa's Galileo to Creo's SQUARESpot—Seybold brought the digital movers and shakers back to Boston, where file transfer, asset management, color proofing, thermal platesettind every other degree of digital prepress stood on a welcome, familiar platform. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Seybold, Boston. What a familiar and pleasant ring that name carries. With all the hype and hoopla surrounding the return of Seybold to Boston last month, all roads led to the Hynes Center for the latest advancements in digital prepress, digital printing and "repurposing" content for the Internet.

It's been little more than two years since the prepress entity known as Linotype-Hell was swallowed by the German giant, Heidelberg. A pressmaker buying a prepress company? Talk about a visionary move. As 1999 progresses, what is the direction of Heidelberg Prepress? Axel Zoeller, director of prepress marketing for Heidelberg USA, provides some answers—and some speculation. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO AXEL ZOELLER is very meticulous—in the very best sense of the word. He is naturally friendly, but remotely guarded. Zoeller (the very Americanized spelling of the traditional German Zöller) is quite the diplomat. His words are carefully selected, almost dutifully crafted, as Printing

Top finishing pros reveal their secrets on selecting the right paper cutting tool for the right job. The cutter is often the last machine to touch the printed product before it goes to the customer, so it needs to cut cleanly, be easy to use and keep the work flowing. Though recent advancements in automation and computer control have made working on the machine easier, they've made choosing a cutter more difficult. That complexity can be simplified, however, by deciding on three basic factors right from the start: the size, the type of blade, and how many optional features and types of paper handling

CHEYENNE, WY—Vision Graphics, a 47-year-old commercial printer headquartered here, recently made headlines—twice. The first news was that the 65-employee company grew 41 percent in 1998, generating a total of almost $7 million in annual revenues. Vision Graphics also received publicity when it opened a new, 24,000-square-foot facility (expandable to 42,000 square feet), about 50 miles south of its headquarters, at Colorado's Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport. Officials reveal its increased growth meant the company needed another plant to keep up with its booming Rocky Mountain business. "A second plant will solidify the presence of Vision Graphics in Colorado and the surrounding states," says Mark

Commercial printers, trade shops, publishers and industry suppliers are banding together under the Graphics Century Project (GCP) umbrella to share critical information and find practical solutions concerning common Y2K problems. BY ERIK CAGLE (Editor's Note: This is the second in a year-long series of articles examining the Y2K problem as it applies to the commercial printing industry. This installment takes a look at the Graphics Century Project, an association-led effort to exchange knowledge.) Pat Maher will be one of the first to admit that the commercial printing industry falls short in the