Tech Powers Show Sales

Ca-ching: The proverbial cash register bells were ringing loudly at GRAPH EXPO, as a dormant buyers’ market awakened in Chicago. As of press time Monday afternoon, capital equipment and software sales already were brisk—and the show wasn’t even half over. “The quality of this year’s attendees is excellent,” praises Mark Eisenschenk, president/CEO of Xitron, which provides prepress and pressroom solutions. “We’ve been giving demonstrations to serious and qualified prospects.”

“People are starting to spend money,” acknowledges Bill Van Buskirk, xpedx National Sales Manager of Prepress, Small Press and Postpress. “They were waiting out the economic downturn, and are now realizing that, to grow their business, they have to invest in new technology—or they’ll be put out of business.

“We are very surprised with the level of traffic,” Buskirk adds. “Yesterday and today we received a large number of orders. In years past, we would know, more or less, who was buying at the show; but this year, every order we received over the last two days we weren’t expecting—and that is what is surprising. There has been a big change here.”

New tax incentives are definitely happening, and credit is loosening, as banks and leasing companies become more willing to work within the industry again. Some highlights:

Aditya Chinai, managing director of short-run book manufacturer King Printing Co., Lowell, MA, signed on the dotted line for a Muller-Martini SigmaLine modular, inline finishing system for on-demand, digitally printed pages.

Kelmscott Communications, Aurora, IL, became one of the first print service providers in the U.S. to purchase Xerox’s new iGen4 EXP press, featuring new prepress and finishing capabilities and the industry’s largest digital cut-sheet solution.

Tribune prospers with Kodak

At GRAPH EXPO, Tribune Co. subsidiary Tribune Direct, Northlake, IL, became the first direct marketing firm to buy the Kodak PROSPER 5000XL inkjet web press. President/GM Lou Tazioli, Operations Director Tim Street and Sales/Client Relations VP Tim Klunder fought crowds to have their picture taken in front of the device on Monday.

“We researched available technologies,” Tazioli says, “and were drawn to the Prosper because it runs multiple substrates. We’re going to offer its speed [650 linear fpm] to marketers who have an interest in self-mailers and postcards,” he notes, adding that transpromo is not Tribune Direct’s primary market. 

“We installed a NexPress about a year ago,” points out Street, “and our net volume is up 100 percent now. It runs 20 hours a day, seven days a week.” The company may use the new press to support short-run, niche publications with larger signatures, Tazioli adds. “It moves a lot of paper. We’re looking at the economics and timing for our TribLocal product’s custom advertising, for example.” Their projections show Prosper producing at 50% to 60% capacity within five years. “Utilization depends on managing schedules and customer turnaround requirements,” says Klunder.

A second Goss Sunday press

“We’ve decided that now is the time to expand our product and service offerings,” says Michael Murphy, president of Japs-Olson, which sealed the deal on Sunday for its second gapless Sunday press from Goss International.

Scheduled for mid-2011 installation in the printer’s St. Louis Park, MN facility, the specialized, eight-unit system, featuring Autoplate and Automatic Transfer for on-the-fly job changeovers, will be configured for highly automated direct-mail applications. The new press will interface with an inline finishing system. Goss says it also will supply a Contiweb splicer, Ecocool dryer and Omnicom control system. 

“This new press is a world’s first, and we are excited to be in position to use its new technology and capabilities,” Murphy adds. Japs-Olson’s first eight-unit Sunday press was installed three years ago.

Growing with Standard

With sales up 40 percent over the past three years, SpringDot in Cincinnati draws annual revenues of $11 million. The commercial sheetfed shop added 20 people since PRINT 09, now employing a total of 70. But 20-year-old bindery equipment isn’t conducive to the firm’s fast growth. On Monday its management team bought an automated Horizon AFC-746F folder from Ohio dealer Graphco. With its auto set-up features, the upgraded folder will improve productivity by producing more unique jobs during the course of a day, says Standard Finishing. “It also means we can keep more work in house,” notes SpringDot president/CEO Josh Deutsch. “We’re going over to the HP booth to look at the Indigo 5500,” Deutsch says. 

A first for Agfa, too

Agfa Graphics sold its first high-speed, six-color plus white, UV-curable inkjet printer in North America yesterday here at GRAPH EXPO. “The :Anapurna M 2050 showcases extreme versatility producing print quality and durability that surpasses other machines we’ve tested,” says Mike Stafford, Technical Operations Manager of Digital Reprographics Solutions, a Doyleston, PA print firm focused on CAD drawings, fine art and trade show displays. “With the speed and quality of the 2050, we will outperform our competition in every way.”

Also, the Kankakee (IL) Daily Journal is moving to Agfa Graphics’ :Advantage N-SL CtP platesetter and :N92-VCF (violet chemistry-free) plates.

Huge in-plant goes with EFI

EFI announced a government contract with DLA Document Services, part of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Defense Logistics Agency, for its Digital StoreFront (DSF) as the Web-to-Print platform for DLA’s more than 150 global locations. The deal for the first year is worth $2.4 million.

DLA Document Services is modernizing its home-grown custom solution, which has been in use for 11 years. Print and e-commerce industry consultant Jennifer Matt was a key partner on the project, and she is expected to be integral to the deployment phase, says EFI.