Heidelberg generated incoming orders of €668 million in the second quarter, up slightly vs. the same quarter of the previous year (€650 million). It anticipates that economic uncertainties will have a dampening effect on investment behavior in the sector during the second half of the financial year.
R.L. Bryan (#367 with $9 million in sales: 2010 Printing Impressions 400) and Professional Printers (#324, $12.1 million) have agreed to a strategic alliance that allows R.L. Bryan to develop its fulfillment and book business by partnering with Professional Printers to handle its commercial printing sales.
In the offset printing category of the 41st WorldSkills competition, the gold and silver medals went to two young women. The pace was set by 22-year-old printer Makiko Ito, who finished some way ahead of Susanna Virtanen from Finland.
More than 100 customers and industry experts visited Hall 11 at the Wiesloch-Walldorf plant of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) on Sept. 28-29, 2011. They were able to see for themselves the efficiency of the Speedmaster XL 145 and XL 162 large-format presses in packaging printing.
The Country Hall of Fame recently completed an exhibit on Nashville’s own “Mr. Guitar,” Chet Atkins. The companion book for the exhibit, titled “Chet Atkins, Certified Guitar Player,” was printed by Lithographics Inc. The company has a well-deserved reputation as a top-notch printer with a talented, motivated staff.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) recently celebrated the official opening of the third construction phase at its Qingpu site near Shanghai in China. The completion of this phase extends the plant’s production area to some 45,000 square meters—a threefold increase in the space of just four years. This expansion enables Heidelberg to serve the growing demand from Chinese print shops.
Heidelberg USA recently completed the installation of an integrated Prinect Prepress Manager workflow anchored by an environmentally friendly thermal Suprasetter 105 platesetter at Wallace Graphics in Stone Mountain, GA. According to Prepress Manager Gary Foster, prior to installation, the company had a perfectly serviceable—if nonintegrated—prepress workflow system, as long as someone was there to make sure it ran.
Heidelberg details its latest workflow, CTP, press and postpress product installations at Heeter Direct in Canonsburg, PA; J.C. Weir in Reno, NV; Mayo Clinic inplant, Rochester, MN; PRP Companies in San Luis Obispo, CA; and Wallace Graphics, Stone Mountain, GA.
The Internet has proven to be something of an elixir, a cure-all tonic for trade printers that were either suffering or stagnating. It has played a large role in the growth, perhaps even salvation, of some trade firms. We’ve encapsulated three notable trade printers, along with a look at what’s fueled their fire and provided confidence in the foreseeable future.
Wide- and grand-format printers really stood out around the show floor, with the size of some devices giving them the impression of being the new “heavy iron” in the industry. Even the new crop of inkjet presses for high-volume page production was overshadowed a bit by their wider brethren, as fewer vendors elected to bring machines to Chicago.
