Offset Printing - Sheet-Fed

On Monday, xpedx is set to open an 11,000-square-foot Technology Center in its metro Cincinnati headquarters. It will provide U.S. print professionals with a single location to learn about and test new equipment and technologies from top manufacturers. The exhibition center will spotlight technology covering all aspects of offset and digital printing, including creative, pre-press/workflow, press and post-press/fulfillment. Printers can evaluate new products, technologies and production techniques from major print industry suppliers in a live print production environment.

Even successful digital printing operations need a little offset sometimes. Take Simon Fraser University Document Solutions. In 2006, IPG detailed how this in-plant had moved from antiquated offset equipment to state-of-the-art digital printers like a Xerox iGen3. The shop didn’t completely abandon offset, though. It retained a four-color 20x29? Heidelberg Speedmaster 74. Now the in-plant has replaced that press with a five-color Heidelberg Speedmaster 52 with a coater. Not only has the shop’s productivity soared, the in-plant is keeping more work in-house as a result.

Sustainability starts at the corporate level. Several vendors are taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, use alternative energy sources, recycle and more.

Two years ago, University of Iowa Printing and Mailing Services jumped into short-run digital color with a new HP Indigo 5000. Now the 44-employee in-plant is moving into four-color offset as well.  The Iowa City-based shop just installed a four-color Komori Spica 29P perfector press. Since it went in, the press has been busy printing brochures, posters, newsletters and lots of perfecting work, says Steve Wilson, printing manager.

Two-color printing used to be fashionable, remarks Bob Tippins, manager of Graphic Services at Carleton University."But now everyone wants four-color,” he says. For an in-plant with a two-color press, however, this presented a small problem. The 23-employee, Ottawa, Ontario-based in-plant did some four-color work on its 25-year-old two-color Heidelbeg MOZP, but it was, Tippins admits, “very inefficient.

WSD of Nordhorn, Germany, has selected manroland Inc., to be the  exclusive North American distributor for its MAG-In® product line of on-press finishing blankets and dies.

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—11/06/2008—In the first six months of financial year 2008/2009 (April 1, 2008 to September 30, 2008), Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) matched the previous year’s incoming orders thanks to the industry trade show drupa in May 2008. Looking at the second quarter (July to September 2008) in isolation, incoming orders fell sharply by around 23 percent due to the continuing financial crisis and the resultant global economic uncertainties. Incoming orders for the Heidelberg Group in the period under review totaled 1.872 billion Euro (previous year: 1.866 billion Euro), 721 million Euro of this in the second quarter (previous year: 932 million Euro). Sales by

ROLLING MEADOWS, IL—November 4, 2008—Komori Corp. announced that Stephan Carter, president and COO of Komori America Corp., will be leaving Komori America effective November 30, 2008. “While I will miss my association with Komori, I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead,” says Carter. During his seven year tenure at Komori America, Carter effectively launched the Komori Lithrone S series and drove significant growth of market share across all product lines. Effective December 1, 2008, Carter is appointed the president and CEO of Hudson North America. Hudson is a leading provider of permanent recruitment, contract professionals and talent management services worldwide. In his

RESTON, VA—10/17/08—The three factors that reportedly most influence the purchase decision of an offset press are speed, price and quality—which isn’t altogether surprising, considering that printers become subject to those same considerations when it comes to trying to win print jobs. “The only way a printer can survive today is to have control over the cost of the printed product,” says Don Bence, vice president of Sakurai USA Inc., “Unfortunately, commercial printing is being treated as a commodity today, with extreme price pressures in the market.” Bence suggests one way to lower costs is to take advantage of press automation features, thereby reducing labor

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—10/02/2008—Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will, based on first calculations, achieve sales between 800 and 820 million Euro in the second quarter of the current financial year 2008/2009 (July 1 to September 30). Thus, sales volume is less than expected for the quarter following drupa trade fair and decreased by 10 percent compared with the same quarter in the previous financial year. Based on orders generated at drupa, Heidelberg had expected a stronger increase in sales in comparison to the first quarter of the current financial year, but recognises significant reluctance to invest in all regions because of the actual economic situation. Operating result