Sappi Fine Paper North America

SEATTLE—Eight North American entries were dubbed 2006 North American Printers of the Year gold award winners by Sappi Fine Paper during its gala awards ceremony held here last Saturday at historic Union Station. The eight gold winners will compete for the Sappi International Printer of the Year title, which will be announced in Budapest, Hungary, in October. The winners and categories were: Color Graphics, Los Angeles, annual reports; Graphic Arts Center Publishing, Portland, OR/Haagen Printing, Santa Barbara, CA, books; Cenveo Anderson Lithograph, Los Angeles, brochures; Allied Printing Services, Manchester, CT, calendars; Nahan Printing, St. Cloud, MN, catalogs; Meridian Printing, East Greenwich, RI, general print; Nahan

Stora Enso has announced the opening of its new Southern California regional distribution center in Montebello, just south of Los Angeles. Len Cammalleri is MAN Roland’s new district sales manager in New York and New Jersey. He has held senior sales and management posts with Hell Graphic Systems, Linotype, Polaroid and Hewlett-Packard. Meanwhile, Gerald Whitlow takes over as district sales manager in Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Diamond Holding Corp. has appointed Matt Greene to the position of technical sales representative. Greene will join the telemarketing department and will be responsible for nationwide sales of the Diamond Express product line. KBA North America has named

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

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

QUEBEC CITY—Dramatic Cirque du Soleil performers and acrobats provided visual stimulation matching the masterful winning entries of the Sappi Fine Paper North America 2005 North American Printer of the Year Gold Awards at an ceremony held at Quebec's historic Military Drill Hall. A select group of North America's premier printers were named winners in the competition's eight categories. The eight winners were chosen from the 47 Silver Award winners in this year's field of more than 2,100 entries. The Sappi Printer of the Year awards competition recognizes printer excellence and innovation for work done on Sappi coated papers. "The importance of the quality of print

Heidelberg Showcases Equipment Range CRANBURY, NJ—Heidelberg USA held an open house here at its Tech Center East showroom early last month, attracting about 150 people. Demonstrations of equipment included its Suprasetter thermal and Prosetter violet CTP platesetters, Quickmaster DI 46-4 Pro with smart spooling mechanism and Speedmaster SM 52-5P+L with retractable in-line coating unit presses, Stitchmaster ST 100 saddlestitcher, Stahlfolder TH series folder and Polar 115 XT cutter, among others. Seminars held the same day featured Bill Bonallo, technotrans america, on trends in UV coatings; Mark Tonkovich, Heidelberg USA, on thermal platesetter innovations; and Paul Keuchenius, Heidelberg USA, on long perfecting press innovations. KBA North

At Graph Expo, Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) donated a Kodak Approval NX digital color imaging system to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). David Hohman has been appointed vice president and general manager of Rycoline, a manufacturer of printing supplies based in Chicago. Rycoline was recently acquired by Sun Chemical. Hohman has been with Sun Chemical for 13 years, serving in operations management. John Strottner has joined Akiyama International as regional sales manager. He will be based at the company's Cerritos, CA, headquarters. Baldwin Technology announced that Mark Becker and Gerald Nathe were re-elected to the company's board of directors. Also, Takayuki Miyaoku was elected as

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

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

Glimpse Into Print Giant's Show Plans HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—It only seems fitting to travel to the birthplace of printing and the home country of the world's largest printing trade show for a pre-Drupa press conference. And when the company you are covering is Heidelberg, the show's biggest exhibitor, there is no better place to be than Germany during the spring season of a Drupa year. The two-day international press event opened at the Heidelberg sheetfed manufacturing facility in Weisloch with a speech from Heidelberg management board member Dr. Klaus Spiegel, who gave an overview of the company's recently announced deals—the selling of the Digital unit