KBA North America

WILLISTON, VT—While color output may be the standard in today’s offset printing market, the necessity for printers to adopt unique, value-added production capabilities is as clear as black and white. That, in part, is what drew approximately 100 visitors from around the country to a customer demo center open house held March 30th at KBA North America’s Sheetfed Press Div. headquarters. Demonstrations throughout the day showcased assorted press changeovers from commercial to packaging jobs, the switch from hybrid to conventional, special colors and effects, as well as printing on paper, board and plastic substrates. The various press runs comprised 18 makereadies with substrate changes. “We’ve more than

KBA North America has announced the appointment of two new district sales managers to concentrate their efforts on fast-growing sales territories on the East and West coasts. Richard “Dick” Bacon is overseeing the Southern California territory while John Graff is calling on accounts in the Washington, DC/DelMarVa locale. Secap has entered into an OEM agreement with Kodak to resell Kodak Versamark 4300 UV print engine technology and associated peripherals. Secap will match up the Kodak Versamark print engine and UV cure station with its own range of transport and material handling peripherals. Wausau Paper reports two new additions to its printing and writing group. Jeffrey Fox

Landmark 500th CTP Device Installed ROCHESTER, NY—Morris Communications has purchased a thermal CTP newspaper solution from Kodak for its flagship newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle. The transaction marks the 500th Kodak Trendsetter News thermal CTP platesetter device sold. The Kodak solution being installed at The Augusta Chronicle includes two Kodak Trendsetter News devices, NewsManager workflow software, a Prinergy Evo PDF processor and Staccato screening software. Essex Products Group (EPG), a manufacturer of integrated color control systems, reports that Helga Kollegger has been named sales administrator. Kollegger is now the first contact for both current customers and sales inquiries. Punch Graphix plc regrets to announce the death

User groups are far more likely to be a source for news than the subject of it. That wasn’t the case in 2005, and continuing into this year, largely due to the ripple effect of recent consolidation within the industry vendor community. Advances in technology are also contributing to the transformation of user groups. Much of this activity has been on the digital printing side of the industry, so user groups for products in that segment will be addressed here. An expanded version of this story—including updates on a broader spectrum of industry groups—will be published on www.piworld.com. When Hewlett-Packard announced last

Heidelberg Puts Accent on Education KENNESAW, GA—The calendar said December, but the menu at Heidelberg's recent "Brats & Dots" customer event gave it the feel of an Oktoberfest, minus the beer. This open house at the company's Print Media Demonstration Center (PMDC) was followed by two days of classes for printers in its Print Media Academy and a briefing for industry editors. On the first day, printers were able to witness live demonstrations of Heidelberg's prepress, press, direct imaging and postpress solution in the 33,000-square-foot PMDC facility. The clear stars of the show were its new 40˝ Speedmaster XL 105 sheetfed press platform and

Seven years, in the grand scheme of things, is not a long time. But change doesn’t need a prolonged period to be felt keenly. In 1998, Challenge Printing, of Eden Prairie, MN, was a 40˝ sheetfed general commercial printer. That company is long gone; no longer exists. And, without diversification, Imagine! Print Solutions may never have taken its place. That’s not to say that companies whose specialty is general commercial offset printing are doomed to becoming one-trick ponies. But Bob Lothenbach, president and founder of Imagine!, had no interest in waiting around to find out if business as usual could provide a viable future.

The sheetfed offset printing market continues to feel pressure—be it from rival markets or outside forces such as pricing battles and shrinking run lengths. As more economical digital print runs extend, and affordable web press runs shorten, manufacturers involved in the small- and medium-format (29˝ and smaller) sheetfed space are equipping their wares with the capabilities needed to compete—and win. “The competition from the web market is becoming more noticeable, but when it comes to the short-run color market, web presses have a number of things going against them,” contends Michael Iburg, product manager, KBA North America. “On a sheetfed press, makeready time is much

Award Winners Honored in China SHANGHAI, CHINA—Jonathan Leslie, CEO of Sappi Limited, and Ronee Hagen, CEO of Sappi Fine Paper North America, presented Bob Coppinger of Kirkwood Printing, Wilmington, MA, with an International Printer of the Year award. Sappi Limited presented awards to nine printers out of 6,000 entries at a gala event held here recently to recognize excellence in print craftsmanship. The only winner from the U.S., Kirkwood Printing took top honors in the annual reports category. Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses (MLP U.S.A.) has joined The Print Council, an industry coalition dedicated to building the market for print. Jeff Pieper has been promoted to senior vice president

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor It wasn't long ago that large and extra-large format sheetfed offset presses were considered primary tools for the package printing market. In Europe, notes Ken Kodama, vice president of sheetfed sales for Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses (MLP U.S.A.), these oversized machines were not used just by folding carton producers, but also by publication and commercial printers. But the productivity of the super-sized press and its ease of use is winning over favor among U.S. printers in the commercial sector. "The manning for a large-format is similar to a 40˝ press, so the makereadies are very similar," Kodama says.

Milestone Printing Unit Celebrated Radebeul, Germany—KBA North America reports that the 100th Rapida printing unit of the super large-format series was put through its final print testing at the KBA plant here recently. The unit is part of the five-color Rapida 205 purchased by Integra-Color in Mesquite, TX. The 80˝ sheetfed press has been configured with a special board-handling package and is also to be equipped with UV facilities for printing on plastics. It also incorporates an ICS slitter system and non-stop pile changing for the feeder and delivery. Reseller Agreement Inked at Trade Show CHICAGO—During PRINT 05, Muller Martini and Kodak signed a reseller