Mag
Installations
Aug 01, 2010San Antonio, TX, printer Shweiki Media (www.shweiki.com) has brought perfect binding in-house with Muller Martini's Pantera. In response to growing demand for higher-impact personalized marketing materials, Kennesaw, GA printer DPI (www.dpiweb.com) has installed an HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press. Minneapolis-based Japs-Olson Co. (www.japsolson.com) has signed for 24 Kodak Prosper S10 Imprinting System
Installations
Jul 01, 2010Mattoon, IL printer United Graphics has added a Nordson Corp. (www.nordson.com) spine and side glue system to enhance the production efficiency of its Muller Martini Acoro Perfect Binder. Victor Lundeen in Fergus Falls, MN, recently installed a Champion 990 score/perf/slitting system from Rollem (www.rollemusa.com); Artistic Printing in Salt Lake City, UT, recently installed Rollem's Double Head TR
Industry Events
Jul 01, 2010August 19Graph Expo 2010: A virtual preview (online), Sponsored by AMERICAN PRINTER (www.americanprinter.com) and hosted by the Graphic Arts Show Co. www.graphexpo.com 25-27Lithographic Relationships & Variables, RIT, Rochester, NY, (800) 724-2536 ext. 815, www.seminars.cias.rit.edu September 21-23Introduction to the Litho-graphic Process, Clemson University (Clemson, SC), www.graphics.clemson.edu
People
Jul 01, 2010Philadelphia printer Bartash Inc. (www.bartash.com) has hired 25-year industry veteran Bob Senske as sales executive. The Ipex (www.ipex.org) organizers have appointed Canon Europe exec David Preskett to serve as president of Ipex 2014. Pre-owned printing equipment supplier PressAccess (www.pressaccess.net) has hired former Heidelberg executives Walter Langley as bindery manager and Brausse specialist,
PUR success
Jul 01, 2010Binding strength, stock range and spine flexibility make polyurethane reactive (PUR) adhesive an ideal solution for a variety of applications. With these benefits come a few important considerations before switching from traditional hotmelt adhesives. Bob Flinn, director of business development for Andover, MA-based Standard Finishing Systems (www.sdmc.com) explains that printers typically use PUR
Make your printing clickable
Jul 01, 2010Have you seen Playboy's June issue, featuring Miss Playmate of the Year in 3D? Put on your special glasses and voila. Who says printing is old school technology? It's kind of like it says on the rearview mirror, jokes Hope Dworaczyk, the subject of the photo spread. Things may appear larger. Not everyone is excited about 3D in print. This particular picture is one example of how books and magazines
New Products
Jul 01, 2010Back in business RIT professor emeritus Frank Romano says, Ipex 2010 (www.ipex.org) has demonstrated that the printing industry is back in business. Attendance topped 50,000 and there were more than 1,000 exhibiting companies from 40 countries. Here is our selection of product introductions. Stay tuned for more in our next issue, and be sure to check out the April and May issues' pre-Ipex coverage
100 Words or Less: Connect with chief marketers
Jul 01, 2010Training vs. education
Jul 01, 2010I meet lots of people from our industry who have opinions on what we should be doing in graphic communications education. Some of these folks are looking to hire our graduates and others just have their own ideas about what a graphic communications degree program should look like. One thing that has struck me over the years is how many people focus mainly on wanting our students to be better trained,
APEtc.
Jul 01, 2010Customer connection
Jul 01, 2010Are you up to speed on social media? As new media sites and approaches continue to grow, many printers are leveraging the big three Twitter, Face-book and LinkedIn to cultivate a community with their customers. Our main goal with social media is to provide printing, marketing and design information to anyone who comes across our page, says Robert R. Lefcourt, general manager for Printex Press (www.printex-press.com)
Sneak peek of Graph Expo 2010
Jul 01, 2010The Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC) will host a special online preview of Graph Expo, sponsored by AMERICAN PRINTER, August 19, 2010. Graph Expo 2010: A Virtual Preview, accessible through any computer's web browser, will feature: An interactive tour of new equipment and products. A list of exhibitors. Live chat and networking. Educational webinars. A preview of Must See candidates and the Executive
Industry? What industry?
Jul 01, 2010When someone asks about the state of our industry, I ask for his or her definition of it. In recent years, our industry has resorted to myriad terms and euphemisms. Companies are increasingly uncomfortable referring to themselves as There is no easy or universal synonym. Even industry trade associations have fled from a reference to or in recent years. The notion of a coherent, easily definable industry
Are you ready for some viral marketing?
Jul 01, 2010I realize the baseball season has barely started. It might seem a bit premature to start discussing football. As a Chicagoan, I'm not getting my hopes up. In fairness, the Sox did win the World Series in 2005. On the north side, the Cubs won their last pennant during the Roosevelt (Theodore) administration. On to football. As Dennis Green reminded us in 2006, The Bears are who we thought they were.
Quick Response
Jul 01, 2010Remember the CueCat phenomenon of the late 1990s? The feline-shaped scanner was introduced by Digital Convergence as a means of facilitating website access via printed barcodes. For reasons too numerous to mention, consumers, advertisers and print publishers rejected the tethered device and its slanted, proprietary barcodes. The core idea still survives, however, as mobile scanning devices and various
Steady on
Jul 01, 2010It has been almost a decade since the Job Definition Format was first drafted in an effort to create a job ticket format that would encompass the entire lifecycle of a print job. The CIP4 (www.cip4.org) Interoperability Matrix currently lists well over 500 tested of applications that can be connected via JDF. These span a wide range of functionality, from order management to binding and delivery.
Press testing: It’s all good
Jul 01, 2010It is time to look at press testing, again, due to the volume of calls coming in regarding problem pieces of equipment. For new presses, sheetfed or web offset, the press test on the printer's floor is a way to ensure the press is installed properly and will meet the requirements of the printer. It is always wise to put in writing the print quality requirements of the press and include it in the contract.
Automated customer feedback uncovers new business
Jul 01, 2010The Print Shop (Wisconsin Rapids, WI) competes with 12 other area printers. The region was hit hard in 2008 when the two local paper companies were sold, resulting in the closure of one mill and downsizing of the other, and the loss of more than 1,000 jobs. One of those companies was The Print Shop's largest customer. In 2008, owner Warren Miller tried competing with online printers, but he concluded,
Ink prices are going up
Jul 01, 2010Sun Chemical (www.sunchemical.com) has implemented a 6% price increase for heatset and directory inks in North America effective July 1, 2010. Prices will increase for all Sun Chemical Rycoline blanket and roller washes, specialty solvents, isopropyl alcohol, alcohol replacement and aqueous coatings. The price of solvent-based washes will increase by $0.50 per gallon and aqueous coatings by $0.05
Installations
Jun 01, 2010Partnering with Fujifilm Graphic Systems Division, Universal Printing (Durham, NC) has installed a new 4-up Dart thermal platesetter and is now running Fujifilm's Ecomaxx-T processless plates. Trade print service provider AccuLink (Greenville, NC) has installed an HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press and HP Exstream software to expand its portfolio of value-added solutions and meet growing demand for multipage,
Printers making the marketing transition
Jun 01, 2010Much has been published by industry consultants on how printers have to transform themselves into Marketing Service Providers. Has anyone defined the elements of marketing services and provided a way for printers to offer these services? Penton and AMERICAN PRINTER have done this for you. Penton data, which includes primary and secondary research (Penton owns the Chief Marketer franchise), shows that
NAPL, NPES, PIA announce Vision 3 Summit
Jun 01, 2010The National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL); NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies (NPES); and Printing Industries of America have joined forces to create a new leadership conference for graphic communications executives the Vision 3 Summit. Scheduled for March 13-16, 2011, printing company and vendor executives will convene at the J.W.
xpedx joins SGP as Gold Patron
Jun 01, 2010The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership welcomes the addition of xpedx (Loveland, OH) as a Gold Patron. Through the generous support of companies like xpedx, the SGP Partnership is able to keep program participation fees for printers low. xpedx customers continue to look for ways to become more sustainable in their day-to-day operations, and the SGP Partnership helps them achieve this goal, says
Research results
Jun 01, 2010In August 2009, Penton Media's (parent company of AMERICAN PRINTER) research department conducted a study of the commercial printing industry. The study generated 551 responses from printing industry executives. Research objectives included gauging participants' awareness of virtual trade shows, discovering subjects of interest for online education, identifying trade show attendance intentions and
Paper & Ink, part II
Jun 01, 2010New digital swatchbook CTI Paper USA's (Sun Prairie, WI) new digital promotional piece uses dramatic 4-color imagery to show off CTI's eclectic collection of digital specialty papers. Brands featured include Aspire Petallics Digital, Currency Digital, Glama Natural Digital and Aspire Petallics Color Copy. The 4.125 5.25-inch piece displays high print quality on a variety of leading commercial digital
