Xpedx Printing Technologies/Ryobi

You know that you’re a small-town printer when your customers stop by without an appointment, with their kids and pets in tow, just to say Hello. That’s what life—and business—is like in the small Midwestern town of Sussex, WI, and Brandon Esser, president and co-owner of Special Editions, wouldn’t have it any other way. He claims that he and his partner, Tom Peterman, are perfectly happy running their small, but-high tech printing business, which boasts only 13 employees (including the owners), 150 customers and revenues of about $1.5 million a year. According to Esser, living in a small town and doing business with people

Viewing On Demand BOSTON—Changing locations continues to be part of the story from the On Demand Conference & Expo, which last month completed its 2007 run at the (nearly) new Boston Convention & Exposition Center (opened in 2004). The event first moved from its long-standing home in New York City to Philadelphia for a two-year stint and now on to Boston through 2008. Close to 200 exhibitors had booths in the On Demand portion of the show floor, which the event continues to share with the AIIM Expo. New, or at least now commercialized, color printing systems added up to the largest category

ONE WORD that would best describe Stuart, FL-based Southeastern Printing is unique. Located along Florida’s “Treasure Coast,” the ISO 9001-certified company boasts the full range of printing services expected from a commercial printer, and some that might surprise those not familiar with the firm. “In recent years, I’ve been invited to cocktail parties where the invitation read that the attire was ‘casual elegance,’ ” explains Don Mader, Southeastern Printing’s 35-year-old president. “Even though the phrase is a bit paradoxical, I feel it represents how our company is perceived in our marketplace. We want to be known as a company that is fun to

HIROSHIMA, JAPAN—Ryobi Graphic Systems is set to begin construction on a new press manufacturing facility at its Hiroshima East central production center. The project comes with a price tag of $27 million.The new facility, called Hiroshima East Plant 3, will add another 99,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Work is due to begin in January…

HIROSHIMA, JAPAN/LENEXA, KS—November 21, 2006—Driven by strong U.S. and worldwide demand growth for offset printing presses, Ryobi Graphic Systems of Hiroshima, Japan, said it will begin construction on a new press manufacturing facility in January 2007. The new facility will be the third at Ryobi’s Hiroshima East central production center. Ryobi also recently reported that its second factory, completed earlier this year, is running at full operation. Ryobi is one of the world’s leading producers of multi-color, mid-size offset printing presses. Ryobi’s newly expanded 215,000 square foot manufacturing center—known as Hiroshima East Plants 1 and 2—generated a 60% increase in production capacity when

RESTON, VA—November 9, 2006—NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies announced the election of several new directors at its Annual Conference November 6 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Elected to terms expiring at the 2009 Annual Meeting were four new directors: • Michael Fox, President of Screen USA • Don Harvey, Vice President and General Manager of XpedX Printing Technologies • Marc Olin, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Professional Printing Applications • Thomas Wetjen, Vice President of Worldwide Graphic Communications at Xerox Corporation Nominated for re-election to terms expiring at the 2009 Annual Meeting were: • Timothy Combs, Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Fujifilm

IT MAY be telling that, with a few exceptions, the presses in operation around the show floor of Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2006 were of the digital variety. Offset units were conspicuous in their absence. Digital presses largely have become part of the commercial printing mainstream, rather than being a specialty product segment or market niche. The exhibition’s Wide Format Pavilion showed ongoing interest in that segment, but adding a wide, large, superwide or grand format digital system still is seen as a way to diversify rather than being standard equipment. Hewlett-Packard shared results from an InfoTrends study that surveyed a sampling

Open House Event Deemed a Success LINCOLNSHIRE, IL—Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses (MLP U.S.A.) hosted a technology open house recently at the company’s headquarters here. Billed as “Diamond Days,” the event focused on the theme “New Technology Opening New Worlds,” exemplified by the latest advancements in the Diamond series 40˝ sheetfed press lineup. Highlighted were the Diamond 3000LX press, the Diamond 3000TP Tandem Perfector and the new Mabeg RS 104 in-line reel sheeter. Wausau Paper announced several new hires in the marketing department for its Printing and Writing sector. Jennifer Cox has joined Wausau as product manager. Andrea Alstad takes over as brand manager for the

Gämmerler will launch the BL 408 bindery stacker for use behind saddlestitchers, perfect binders, folders and inserters. Features wide format range, two-stage stacking system and a low copy drop height. The infeed is equipped with four top belts and eight bottom belts. Visit www.piworld.com/infocenter and enter number 381 Goss International will unveil its Pacesetter 2200 and 2500 saddlestitchers. The systems feature servo-driven hoppers and excel at quick makereadies. The Pacesetter 2200 system completes up to 22,000 books per hour. The Pacesetter 2500 model features a dual stitcher and a 25,000 books per hour capacity. Visit www.piworld.com/infocenter and enter number

Komori Demos LS29 Press at Open House ROLLING MEADOWS, IL—Komori America held an open house and press demonstration recently to showcase the production capabilities of its new 29˝ Lithrone LS29 sheetfed press, which debuted in April at the IPEX exhibition. Six different forms were run on a six-color model with tower coater to demonstrate its six-minute job changeover capabilities (50 percent faster than the Lithrone 28). The new 16,000 sph, console-driven press comes equipped standard with fully automatic plate changers and blanket washers, and Komori’s KHS pre-inking system, to speed makeready times. Ryobi Opens Press Manufacturing Center HIROSHIMA, JAPAN—Ryobi Limited of Japan has more than doubled the