Heidelberg has announced the following new product installations at Worzalla Publishing, Ry-Gan Printing and Northern Ohio Printing. Worzalla Publishing reports the purchase of a Eurobind 600 PUR binder and POLAR 66 guillotine cutter to support its new digital book printing operation, co-located with the company’s main facility in Stevens Point, WI.
Stevens Point, WI-based Worzalla Publishing has laid off 20 employees, a move that will save about $1.5 million from the company’s 2012 expenses. Eliminating the positions, which were mostly supervisors or managers, is part of a larger business plan to reorganize the company to better do business, CEO Jim Fetherston said.
“This was really an intention to make us more cost competitive in today’s market,” Fetherston said. “Our business is in a rapidly changing market right now, and keeping a keen eye to our fixed costs levels is very important for us to stay competitive.”
Worzalla is facing new competition from eReaders
Commercial printer company and personnel news from Printing Impressions’ September 2011 edition.
James H. Fetherston will take over the duties held for the past 30 years by Charles W. Nason. Nason, who will retire in June, will continue with Worzalla as chairman of its Board of Directors. Fetherston, 56, joins the book manufacturing company from the Walsworth Print Group of Marceline, MS.
The 2012 Printing Impressions 400 list of the largest printing companies in the United States and Canada as ranked by annual sales.
CHUCK NASON admits he wasn’t fully prepared for the effects of global competition as it accelerated in 2001. The president and CEO of Worzalla Publishing, a Stevens Point, WI-based book manufacturer, watched as a significant portion of the company’s four-color children’s book work went to China. “Global competition has affected us in a major way,” Nason contends. “It caused us to suffer a five-year slide in annual sales from just over $62 million to $44.4 million a year ago. This has meant little or no wage increases for our employees and a freeze on capital equipment purchases for four years.” Nason points out what
by Dennis E. Mason Halfway through the first decade of the 21st century seems a good time to step back and assess the status of web offset printing and what the future may hold. The web printing industry is five years beyond the Y2K scare, and has largely recovered from the downturn that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks. So where do we go from here? For answers to this key question, Printing Impressions went to a number of web industry observers and printers. Here is what they had to say about a number of important issues: How are JDF and Computer-integrated Manufacturing
(Editor's Note: Company rankings for the current and previous years are based on figures reported in 2004. Therefore, companies that revised their 2003 revenues may have changed their 2003 ranking as compared with the ranking that appeared in last year's Printing Impressions 400. Similarly, the percentage change in sales is calculated on the most recent information provided.) 101 ('03: 97) NorthStar Print Group, Watertown, WI Total Sales (Millions): $57.40 Previous Year's Sales (Millions): $56.52 Change (%): +2 Principal Officer: Richard Gasper Employees: 290 Primary Specialties: PKG 100% Web Offset Press Units: 0 Sheetfed Press Units: 0 Other Press Units: 81 Ownership: Public Plants: 3
By Noelle Skodzinski It's not likely a big surprise that Quebecor World held fast to its No. 1 spot among the Top Book Manufacturers—ranked by book manufacturing revenues—in the United States and Canada. With a $36 million lead over RR Donnelley, and a $273 million lead over third-ranked Von Hoffmann Corp., Quebecor World isn't likely to lose its position anytime soon. Both top seeds, however, saw book sales drop in 2003. In fact, revenues for three of the top five sank by a total of nearly $130 million. Arvato Print USA (a division of Bertelsmann) and Von Hoffmann were the only two in
(Editor's Note: Company rankings for the current and previous years are based on figures reported in 2003. Therefore, companies that revised their 2002 revenues may have changed their 2002 ranking as compared with the ranking that appeared in last year's Printing Impressions 400. Similarly, the percentage change in sales is calculated on the most recent information provided.) 101 ('02: 85) Tweddle Litho, Clinton Township, MI Total Sales (Millions): $62.90 Previous Year's Sales (Millions): $74.30 Change (%): -15 Principal Officer: Andrew M. Tweddle Employees: 200 Primary Specialties: COM 100% Web Offset Press Units: 10 Sheetfed Press Units: 2 Other Press Units: 4 Ownership: Private
