Kolbus America

Sun Chemical Plant Undergoes $7.2M Expansion ST. CHARLES, IL—Sun Chemical is working on a expansion of its manufacturing facility and laboratories here. The $7.2 million project will add nearly 32,000 square feet, bringing the plant to 90,000 square feet. The building will include ink manufacturing operations, expanded offices, a warehouse and a new laboratory. When it is completed in April 2004, the facility will house 141 employees. At this plant, the company also plans to combine the operations of its Chicago-area Clearing plant, as well as Kohl and Madden's facility in Elk Grove Village, IL. Colter & Peterson has reached an agreement with

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor There are enough headaches encountered between the time a customer's files are uploaded to your FTP site and when the truck rolls away from the back dock with finished product. But, while certain aspects of the workflow are tedious and time consuming, your perfect binder shouldn't be an attention, or time, burglar. Most manufacturers of floor-model adhesive binders agree that time is of the essence. And the position of bindery operator often sees high turnover, making it imperative that a quality machine is easy to makeready, simple to operate, and equally user-friendly and fast on changeovers. Shrinking Setup As run lengths

For most graphic arts companies, there is a clearly defined market from which the majority of customers are drawn. This market is typically defined by the company's size, core competencies, and the size and needs of the geographical region in which it exists. Every so often, a company will break out of that pattern and create a business model that expands its market base beyond those traditional boundaries. Eckhart & Co., located in Indianapolis, has done just that. A potent combination of desirable manufacturing capabilities and honest customer service has allowed Eckhart to blossom into a complete postpress services provider with a roster

By Erik CagleSenior Editor Although the company itself is 179 years old, Courier Corp. has the vitality of a teenager. The North Chelmsford, MA-based book printer found the fountain of youth courtesy of a comprehensive strategic planning process that began in 1990 and provided Courier with a sleek, sexy and, most of all, fiscally lucrative overhaul. The publicly held printer shed a number of markets, and the company that once published newspapers and dabbled in commercial work narrowed its focus to three book manufacturing segments—education, religious and specialty trade. The results have been outstanding. Through the first nine months of 2003, Courier has enjoyed

By Erik Cagle The workflow process of a commercial printer is a lot like a 4x400 relay team in track and field: all the components of the team must be equally strong in order to be successful, and the final step is as important, even more so, than any other. After all, you don't want the anchor leg dropping the baton. The world of stackers and palletizers is the equivalent of the anchor leg, as it prepares finished product for delivery. Thus while not as ballyhooed as the sexier prepress parts of printing operations, its customers demand the ultimate in reliability, durability and

Motheral Printing Chairman Dies FORTH WORTH, TX—Carl Motheral, 76, chairman of Motheral Printing, died of a heart attack in January. Motheral was part of the second generation to run the family-owned printing business that his father and mother, Fitzhugh and Ella Motheral, started in 1934. He joined what was then a small family business in 1950. Mr. Motheral ran the business along with his brothers Foist and Wesley, and retained the title of chairman when he retired four years ago. His son, Jim, succeeded him as president. Tom Basore to Retire From WOA ALEXANDRIA, VA—Thomas "Tom" Basore, executive director of the Web Offset Association (WOA) and

BY MARK SMITH Adhesive binding has long been a benchmark of quality for finishing, but equipment costs and setup times traditionally had kept the process in the realm of long-run and/or higher end projects. The prevailing trend now in "perfect" binding systems is increasing their flexibility to handle shorter runs. This is true for all levels of equipment, but particularly for the relatively new product category of units designed to work in conjunction with digital printing systems. A related trend is the industry's move to computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) that is trickling down to postpress operations in general. Unlike prepress and printing, though, digital

BY ERIK CAGLE In 1996 it was becoming increasingly clear to Anthony and Robert Lienau, co-founders of Trend Offset Printing, that the Southern California market which gave birth to their thriving business—from a $15 million printer less than 10 years previously to nearly $80 million—was just about tapped of growth potential. Before long, the Los Alamitos, CA-based printer was embarking on a national expansion plan, first in Carrollton, TX (a Dallas suburb), followed by Jacksonville, FL. It proved a prophetic move by Anthony Lienau, company chairman. "We were profitable within our first three months in Texas," notes Todd Nelson, president and COO of Trend

Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. moved into violet imaging CTP technology by previewing three internal-drum systems that feature 30mW laser diodes for exposing photopolymer plates. The Saber Luxel Vx-6000 CTP handles a 29.5x26.4˝ maximum plate size and is offered in manual and semi-automatic configurations. The Saber Luxel V-9600 CTP and Vx-9600 CTP support a 45.7x37.8˝ maximum plate size and initially will be available in a fully automatic configuration. The Vx model supports a slightly larger imaging area and will be offered in manual and semi-automatic configurations in the future. Write in 382 on Reader Service Card Delphax Technologies debuted the Imaggia II series of sheetfed

LOS ANGELES—The economy may not be in growth mode, but Lithographix Inc.—one of the leading lithographers nationwide—certainly is on the move. The Los Angeles-based sheetfed and web printer, with print production facilities in San Diego and San Francisco, enjoyed growth and expansion opportunities during 2001, and is now poised to make a run at the central and eastern portions of the country. In August of 2001, Mike Hecht, executive vice president of sales, added Rob Styacich to Lithographix's executive management team. According to Hecht, "This was our first move to expand into the national market. Once we realized that our national expansion was next,