manroland Inc.

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor The book printing industry in America cannot live on Harry Potter's whimsy and Oprah Winfrey's blessings to survive in an environment that's losing share to overseas competition. Hit titles such as the J.K. Rowling line of Potter tomes, and the popularity heft that the afternoon talk show queen can put behind a new or backlisted work, can create a stir in both the publishing and printing industries. What the leading book manufacturers from our Printing Impressions 400 are looking for is consistency from the educational market. Top 10 Book Printers  CompanySegmentSales(millions)TotalSales(millions) 1Quebecor WorldMontreal$704$6,400 2RR DonnelleyChicago$656$8,204 3Banta

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor Those pundits who, a year ago, predicted that an improved economy would translate to a trickle-down effect for the commercial printing industry were eventually right. After a three-year funk, many observers impatiently watched as 2004 jumped into gear like a lazy teenager preparing for his final spring in high school. But as the second half of the year garnered steam, so did the industry. Graph Expo & Converting Expo produced solid foot traffic and sales volume, and a number of printers announced substantial capital investment initiatives. By year's end, the confidence in improving numbers was no longer wistfully forced. As you look at

Ennis Acquires All Royal Stock MIDLOTHIAN, TX—Printed business products specialist Ennis Inc. has acquired all of the stock of Arlington, TX-based Royal Business Forms for $3.7 million in Ennis stock. Royal Business Forms posted sales of $12 million for its fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2004. Royal Business Forms opened its doors in 1959. Dollco Purchases Roland 700s OTTAWA—Dollco Printing, one of Canada's largest privately owned commercial printers, has acquired a pair of MAN Roland 700 presses, a five-color and a 10-color unit, to complement its sheetfed, heatset web and coldset press arsenal. Integrated into the installation are an in-line sheeter, coater and perfecting. Dollco

Future of Print Extends Beyond PI 400 Printers Although this special issue features our annual ranking of the 400 largest printing companies in the United States and Canada based on annual sales, the future of print itself is a topic that's just as important to the quick printer located in Anytown USA as it is to the establishments that made the Printing Impressions 400 list. Printers of all sizes must unite to support various initiatives that help promote our industry. One still-emerging effort is The Print Council, a business development initiative dedicated to promoting the greater use of print media through education, awareness, market

Signing Highlights Graphic Communications Day NEW YORK CITY—One highlight of Graphic Communications Day (GCD), held recently at Madison Square Garden, was a signing ceremony between the Association of Graphic Communications (AGC) and Fairleigh Dickinson University launching an Executive MBA in Graphic Communications degree program. arizona PHOENIX—O'Neil Printing, a 96-year-old company, is now running an eight-color Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 102 long perfector with aqueous coater. The 40˝ Speedmaster perfector—reportedly the only press of its kind in the Phoenix market—allows for four-over-four color printing in a single pass. CALIFORNIA CHATSWORTH—S2K Graphics has celebrated its 15th anniversary. Formerly known as Signs 2000, S2K Graphics

by chris bauer Managing Editor If you still think of the bindery as a labor-intensive segment of the print shop where manual operations are the norm, then you obviously were not paying close enough attention at Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2004. Exhibitors touting the next generation of finishing equipment proved that bindery gear is now just as automated and digitized as equipment in prepress departments and pressrooms. Muller Martini, for example, showed printers and finishing professionals how to make the most of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) in their binderies and pressrooms. Under the theme "Integration—Solutions from A to Z," the company introduced a

Colter & Peterson and MBO America are now co-distributors of Wohlenberg paper cutters and cutting systems for the U.S. market. Specifically, the cooperative agreement will allow technical experts and sales personnel from both companies to confer with each other on how Wohlenberg cutters can best enhance the efficiency and productivity for printers and trade finishers looking to upgrade their operations. Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Print Media presented the Cary Award to Frank Steenburgh, senior vice president for business growth, Production Systems Group at Xerox Corp. during a breakfast at Graph Expo 2004. The Cary Award is presented annually to those who have

The Soderstrom Society of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) has named Jim Hyder, president and CEO of Fetter Printing, Louisville, KY, and former NAPL chairman, recipient of the 44th annual Walter E. Soderstrom Award. Allen Conway, executive vice president for the resale custom division of Cenveo Inc., has been appointed to the position of president of the Cenveo resale segment doing business as Quality Park. In addition, Bob Hart, current president of the resale segment, has accepted a position as special assistant to the chairman. The Worldwide Printing Thermographers Association (WPT) has announced the winners of its 7th annual Excellence in Thermography Contest—the

By Mark Michelson Editor-in-Chief Don't chalk up the sprint-speed pace of buying activity reported by many Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2004 exhibitors to the Chicago Marathon that just happened to coincide with the opening day of the show. More likely, credit the desire for printers to make capital expenditures again to signs that the U.S. economy and graphic arts industry are finally rebounding, as well as the fact that Graph Expo provided U.S. printers with the first chance to see state-of-the-art Drupa introductions in action. Perhaps nowhere was this more apparent than within the booths of traditional sheetfed and web offset press

This is my 20th anniversary column. I have written 220 columns. I don't have to write columns for the month of July because Printing Impressions always publishes a buyer's guide directory for that month. Otherwise, I would have written 240 columns. After I wrote them, Printing Impressions actually published all 220 columns, no matter what I said. For example, who can forget when, in December of 1984, I wrote, "Selling is probably the least important funkshun in the printing bidness. Somebody has to go out and pick up the orders." I added, "Salespeople are snakes and charlatans. Don't trust 'em. Just send 'em