Offset Printing - Sheet-Fed

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—June 4, 2008—Komori Corp. announced today the investment of Yen 10 billion (>$95 million) in the latest phase of expansion of its flagship Tsukuba factory in Tsukuba City, Japan. Construction will start in September 2008 and, when complete in December 2009, the Tsukuba Plant will have effectively doubled in size to become the world’s largest press manufacturing facility. “We are experiencing continued strong growth in market share worldwide, particularly outside Japan, which is driving our investment to meet increase in demand for our sheetfed and web offset presses in the future,” said Yoshiharu Komori, president and chief executive officer of Komori Corporation.

WÜRZBURG, GERMANY/DOBRUSKA, CZECH REPUBLIC—04/30/08—Pending the approval of the competent authorities, KBA’s Czech subsidiary KBA-Grafitec in Dobruska is entering a strategic alliance with Adast in Adamov, near Brno. According to the contracts signed by the two companies on 23 April in Dobruška, Adast discontinues the development, production and marketing of its own branded products to focus on providing KBA-Grafitec with parts and subassemblies. In return KBA-Grafitec will source a major proportion of its components from Adast. Other KBA production sites will also purchase from Adast where possible. KBA-Grafitec has acquired Adast’s entire portfolio of product, patent and trademark rights, and while Adast will continue to

JOHN SARANTAKOS is not shy about revealing his intentions. “I want to print everything,” declares Sarantakos, administrator of Printing & Mailing Services at the University of Oklahoma (OU). “Obviously that’s not feasible, but that’s always been the goal.” To bring his award-winning in-plant closer to this lofty ambition, he and his staff recently made a move virtually unheard of in the in-plant sector. They installed an eight-color sheetfed offset press in their Norman, Okla., facility. Adding the rebuilt 28x40? Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 perfector had become something of a necessity, Sarantakos contends, “because of the vast amount of four-color work we’re doing—and it’s almost

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—03/10/2008—At drupa 2008 from May 29 to June 11 (Halls 1 and 2), Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be rounding off the upper end of its portfolio for packaging and commercial printers by moving into the 102 x 142 centimeter (40.16 x 55.91 inch) and 120 x 162 centimeter (47.24 x 63.78 inch) format classes. The new platform for the Speedmaster models XL 145 and XL 162 will be put on public show for the first time at the industry event in Düsseldorf. The Heidelberg trade show presentation is based around the slogan “HEI Performance” and “HEI Value”. Visitors to drupa

LAS VEGAS—January 10, 2008—AMS today announced its role as a founding sponsorship of Print UV 2008, the first printing industry event focused exclusively on the growing UV printing market. Designed as an intimate, peer-oriented event, “Print UV” is sponsored by a founding group of key industry participants dedicated to encourage, promote and sustain the growth of UV printing in the global graphic communications industry. “We are thrilled to be a founding sponsor in the formation of the Print UV 2008 Conference and the Print UV Association”, remarked Hans Ulland, Co-Founder and Vice President of Sales for Air Motion Systems. “UV is one of the

ANYONE WHO thinks in-plants are all unplugging their offset presses and going digital should talk to John Sarantakos. “We run three shifts, 24 hours a day, five days a week, and we can’t get it all done,” remarks Sarantakos, director of University of Oklahoma Printing Services. So heavy is the demand for magazines, books and other four-color work, the 75-employee in-plant has been forced to do the unthinkable: “There’s stuff that we have to turn away because we just can’t get it done,” he confesses. To remedy that, the in-plant is installing an eight-color, 40? Heidelberg four-over-four perfector this month—to join its existing two

2008 WILL be a special year—a Drupa year. Next May, in D

THINK OF a sheetfed offset UV press as a chemistry set for grownups, complete with an ever-shifting set of variables and a hands-on learning curve. The upside of that curve is the license to print an endless range of special effects impossible to achieve with conventional inks and coatings. And the downside? There isn’t one, according to a growing number of practitioners that may have assayed the market with a vague notion of value-added, then stayed once it became apparent what a mastery of UV techniques could mean to their competitive position and their bottom line. UV printing is not for the faint

GRAPH EXPO returned to Chicago last month, bringing printers together from all over the globe. Despite its earlier than usual start the weekend after Labor Day, the four-day graphic arts trade show packed a decent crowd. Granted, opening day attendance thinned noticeably around NFL kickoff time (it was the season opener, after all), but by day two McCormick Place was jammed solid. An impressive 640 exhibitors (including 120+ new ones) spread out across 460,984 net square feet of exhibit space. In-plants interested in wide-format printing or in mailing/fulfillment could go to special sections of the show floor where such equipment was clustered.

WILLISTON, VT—09/02/07—KBA North America announces that Holger Garbrecht has been named president and CEO of KBA North America, replacing Ralf Sammeck, who has been promoted to executive vice president of worldwide sheetfed sales and member of the Management Board for KBA. “I look forward to taking over this dynamic company that is now a combination of both sheetfed and web sales and service in North America,” said Garbrecht. “KBA North America is the unparalleled technology leader in printing presses. The firm continues to introduce groundbreaking press designs and the largest range of presses for printers of any size. I’m proud to be part of