DOBRUSKA, CZECH REPUBLIC—KBA-Grafitec, KBA’s subsidiary here, has entered into a strategic alliance with Adast. According to the deal, Adast will discontinue the development, production and marketing of its own branded products to focus on providing KBA-Grafitec with parts and sub-assemblies. In exchange, KBA-Grafitec and other KBA production sites will purchase components from Adast when possible.
THE BIGGEST news story of 2008 has also produced one of the most deplorable subplots of the year. As you are all well aware by now, Quebecor World finds itself fighting to stay in business, having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States, as well as reorganizational protection in Canada. While the prognosis appears good that the company will survive, there has been some negative fallout. Several clients have left or are considering leaving the Montreal-based printer, putting printing in the hands of Quebecor World’s competitors. Business is business, you might say, and print buyers have to act in their
RADEBEUL, GERMANY—You have to give Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) a lot of credit. When it wants to throw a coming-out party for new presses or capabilities, KBA certainly displays a flair for the dramatic. When the smoke had cleared from the pomp and circumstance of its pre-demonstration entertainment—which included an eclectic mix of dancers, a juggler, a man on stilts and an opera singer against a backdrop of colorful lasers—KBA gave 200 worldwide journalists a taste of its newer offerings heading into this month’s Drupa exhibition. KBA literally had to wait for the smoke to clear to start its Rapida 162 packaging press;
WÜRZBURG, GERMANY/DOBRUSKA, CZECH REPUBLIC—04/30/08—Pending the approval of the competent authorities, KBA’s Czech subsidiary KBA-Grafitec in Dobruska is entering a strategic alliance with Adast in Adamov, near Brno. According to the contracts signed by the two companies on 23 April in Dobruška, Adast discontinues the development, production and marketing of its own branded products to focus on providing KBA-Grafitec with parts and subassemblies. In return KBA-Grafitec will source a major proportion of its components from Adast. Other KBA production sites will also purchase from Adast where possible. KBA-Grafitec has acquired Adast’s entire portfolio of product, patent and trademark rights, and while Adast will continue to
NORTH BERGEN, NJ—April 4, 2008—Edison Litho & Printing, one of the largest large-format litho printers in the Northeast and the only printer in the country with two of the largest sheetfed presses in the world, embarked on its new theme “The Future of Your Business is with Edison Litho” at the GlobalShop show at McCormick Place in Chicago in mid-March 2008 to promote its large-format printing capabilities and use of different substrates. The Edison booth attracted hundreds of show-goers. “We’re here to proclaim our leadership in the large-format printing category by having two KBA Rapida 205 81-inch six-color sheetfed presses in our facility,” says
Print UV Conference Deemed a Success LAS VEGAS—Nearly 100 printers and suppliers attended the inaugural Print UV 2008 Conference, held here at the Wynn Resort in early March. Produced and sponsored by Air Motion Systems, the event also served as the launching pad for the Print UV Association and a platform for the expanding Print UV online community (www.printuv.com). Discussion topics included how to market and sell UV; innovative UV printing and coating techniques; and the benefits of going 100 percent VOC-free in the UV pressroom. A panel of experts from major press OEMs, as well as UV equipment, ink, coating and
WILLISTON, VERMONT—03/18/08—KBA North America, a global press manufacturer, will be exhibiting its entire range of cutting-edge sheetfed presses at Drupa 2008, from the compact 20-inch to its large format units, with a raft of new features and technological innovations. The focus of its huge 36,800 sq ft stand in Hall 16 will be on new productivity- and efficiency-enhancing automation modules, inline finishing, inline quality management and green printing technologies. Drupa, scheduled for May 29 to June 11, is the industry’s premier printing event held every four years in Düsseldorf, Germany. Four years ago at Drupa 2004 KBA set the tone with
Prepress Upgrades Enhance Workflow DETROIT—First came the press, then came the upgrade to new prepress and platesetting technology. Crystal Clear Images runs a Heidelberg GTO press and wanted to update its workflow. Crystal and Anthony Mitchell, the husband and wife owners of the unionized shop, chose Heidelberg’s Prinect Printready prepress system and Suprasetter A52 platesetter. “When people heard that we were installing Heidelberg (prepress equipment), the amount of business influx was incredible,” reports Crystal Mitchell, who began her career as a school teacher in graphic design, before starting her own business from the basement of her house in 1995. The company, which has
MANY SUCCESSFUL companies will point to a new piece of equipment or the introduction of a service offering as being the catalyst behind their success. Seldom do you hear about the benefits of dropping an offering, but there are certainly examples of companies receiving a shot in the arm after shedding one of their components. The Garvey Group was hardly on life support when it decided to make a fundamental change in 2004. The Niles, IL-based printer boasts four facilities, annual sales of roughly $46 million, and one of the most diverse product and service portfolios in the game. But, even with a wide
LIKE TIGER Woods reading the greens on the 18th hole of the U.S. Open, John Galligan is a man who exhibits unflappable focus. Galligan, the president of Newburyport, MA-based Bradford & Bigelow (B&B), knows what it takes to be successful as a book printer, and that entails keeping it simple. This $25 million printer, nestled about 30 miles north of Boston, specializes in one- and two-color 81⁄2x11˝ book production for the highly competitive elementary, high school (el-hi) and college textbook market. No four-color casebound, coffee table, 6x9˝ or 7x9˝ products. If ever a company embodied the definition of “niche,” it would be
