Komori America

Robert Prah, formerly national accounts manager for Screen (USA), has been appointed vice president of sales. Prah oversees the Screen sales force in the United States and Canada. Boise Paper’s board of directors has approved a $72 million capital project to expand Boise’s production of pressure-sensitive paper. The project involves adding new capacity to the existing #3 paper machine at Boise’s mill in Wallula, WA, with state-of-the-art equipment that will increase the company’s pressure-sensitive capacity by 200,000 tons. Eastman Kodak has named Jeffrey Hayzlett chief marketing officer and vice president for its Graphic Communications Group (GCG). Hayzlett has nearly 25 years of international marketing, sales and

TO STAND out from the rest of the herd, offset press manufacturers, both web and sheetfed, have ramped up their service offerings. This trend toward extended service plans, preventive maintenance programs and beefed up parts and labor options is allowing press manufacturers to expand what is offered to their customers while also becoming more of a partner with the printer. Here is a look at some service plans that are available, in no particular order. At PRINT 05, Heidelberg unveiled an extended service package to the U.S. market called systemservice 36plus. Heidelberg’s systemservice 36plus service package extends service coverage for a period of 36

Brown Opts for Sundays WASECA, MN—Magazine and catalog specialist Brown Printing has ordered two new gapless web presses and three finishing systems from Goss International. A pair of 2x8 Sunday 3000/32 presses will be joined here by two Universal adhesive binders. A third Universal binder is slated for installation at Brown’s East Greenville, PA, facility. Quadracci Honored by WOA SEWICKLEY, PA—Thomas Quadracci, chairman and CEO of Quad/Graphics, has been named the recipient of the Web Offset Association’s (WOA) eighth annual VISION Award, named in honor of his late brother, Harry, who founded the Sussex, WI-based printer. He will be presented with the award during the WOA’s 54th

EDITOR’S notebook A MASSIVE complex of buildings encompassing 3.3 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space. Some 15,000 workers, with nearly 12,000 of them housed in dormitories built right on the 160-acre campus. Meals prepared daily for the entire workforce, with future plans for an organic farm. Two on-site medical clinics with four doctors on duty. Its own fire brigade complete with three fire engines and an ambulance. Five power and three wastewater treatment plants. A company library with 27,000 books, a post office, recreational areas and even a discotheque. Plus, ongoing construction projects for more housing, larger dining facilities and floorspace for increased

It’s a rarity to hear about a new printing facility being built from the ground up in today’s graphic arts world. But that is just what Williams Printing, an RR Donnelley company, celebrated when it opened a new 130,000-square-foot facility located near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in 2005. But, then again, Williams Printing does not consider itself your Average Joe Printer. During the past 80 years, Williams Printing has built a reputation for outstanding quality, service and innovation. And although RR Donnelley is now the world’s largest provider of print and print-related services—and Williams is among the largest commercial printers in the Atlanta area—both pursue a

AUTO DEVICES to speed makereadies. Ever-increasing press unit requirements. Convertible and dedicated perfecting configurations. Unique coating capabilities. As U.S. sheetfed commercial printers strive to differentiate themselves from their competitors, they increasingly opt for more customized press solutions. And, once they decide to buy a new offset machine, the ability of their chosen press supplier to deliver the order within a short time frame is crucial to sealing the deal. That market trend, in part, is what drove the Komori Corporation to build its new Tsukuba sheetfed press manufacturing facility near Tokyo, which went into full operation in December with the second phase completion of an

Ask yourself a simple question. Where will you be when opportunity knocks? Take Terry Pegram, for example. Rather than wait for an opportunity to show up at his doorstep, Pegram made his own chances by being a risk taker—despite having a low-key demeanor more fit for the Southern gentleman that he is. Who is Terry Pegram, you ask? He is the founder, chairman and CEO of PBM Graphics, based in Research Triangle Park, NC. In terms of stature and industry recognition, the company is as much a mystery as the peculiarly named city in which it resides. His vision was of a company that

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

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.

Fresh, intensity-riddled faces swarmed the lobby of the Houstonian Hotel, most of them young enough to appear in auditions for an MTV reality show. But aspiring actors these youngsters were not—they hoped to become role players in the ever-growing printing industry dynasty best known by its stock symbol: CGX. It was late July, and the sixth annual Consolidated Graphics (CGX) National Associates Meeting was in full swing. Despite the fact that most of the participants’ drivers licenses indicated a birth date in the 1980s, these participants boasted a confidence, an eager aggressiveness and a tireless optimism regarding their present and future roles with the