PR & News

MittMedia Print, a subsidiary of Sweden’s fourth-largest media group MittMedia Förvaltnings in Gävle, is gearing up for sustained growth and expanding its product spectrum with a compact waterless KBA Cortina whose hybrid coldset/heatset capabilities enable it to print semi-commercials (supplements and magazines) alongside newspapers. Since there is no fan-out in waterless offset it is possible to produce high-quality hybrid copies containing both heatset and coldset sections. The press line for MittMedia Print will be the eighteenth Cortina to leave the KBA production line, but the first such installation in Sweden. The investment package includes new finishing kit and an extension to MittMedia’s production plant in Sundsvall, where the Cortina is scheduled to come on stream in spring 2011. A city with around 95,000 inhabitants some 400km (250 miles) north of Stockholm on the Baltic coast, Sundsvall was previously dominated by paper and pulp production but has since evolved into a centre for cellulose- and aluminium-processing industries, IT and telecommunications. ...

Weber Druck+Display in Weyhe near Bremen has been producing advertising and POS materials for over 50 years. Originally a silk-screen business, the family-run company was expanded to incorporate full-colour offset printing in the 1970s. With 55 employees, Weber Druck is already one of the larger players in the branch. Given the long-established focus on non-absorbent materials, UV equipment is effectively the company standard. Since autumn 2008, Weber Druck+Display has been printing on a medium-format Rapida 105, the predecessor generation to today's high-tech Rapida 106 press series.

Weber Druck has evolved as a specialist for plastic substrates which place particular demands on the printing technology, for example polypropylene, polystyrene and rigid PVC in all thicknesses and with the most varied surface properties. The run lengths range from less than 100 (e.g. for special backlight posters) up to 6 million individual cards in the case of lenticular inserts for high-circulation magazines. The average, as for many commercial printers, is a run length between 1,000 and 2,000 sheets. “Our out-of-the-ordinary lenticular prod ...

The first COLORMAN, XXL autoprint in Austria is to be installed at Herold Druck in Vienna. This printing company relies on technological progress and its association with manroland.

Three years ago, Herold Druck und Verlag AG caused something of a sensation as a pilot user of UV technology for newspaper printing, and now this Vienna printing company has opted for groundbreaking technology once again. The first COLORMAN, XXL of the autoprint series and the first six-page wide newspaper web press in the Alpine Republic will commence production at Herold Druck at the end of 2010.

King of the newspaper-printing mountain
Herold Druck specializes in printing newspapers and supplements, is known for its enthusiasm for innovations, and has relied on printing technology and project management from manroland for 17 years. The reason why is the level of quality that this customer insists on. Is being the first with technological innovations one of Herold’s stated objectives? “If being the first means having a competitive edge, above all as far as economy in newspaper printing is concerned, then that is worthwhile. More important however is aligning our co ...

• New products and services put print shops in an excellent position for when the economy picks up again
• Focus on solutions for new business options
• Heidelberg views IPEX as a trend barometer for the printing industry in 2010
• Initial signs of macroeconomic recovery in parts of the world

At this year's IPEX trade show in the U.K. city of Birmingham from May 18 to 25, 2010, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be showcasing the latest developments in its product and service portfolio. The company's stand in Hall 8 will focus on current market trends such as lean, environmentally friendly production for print shops. "Our aim is to ensure that our customers are well positioned to face future challenges, and we will work with them to develop and successfully implement new business options in a changing environment," stated Heidelberg CEO Bernhard Schreier. ...

German print enterprise Heider Druck in Bergisch Gladbach makes no secret of its driving passion, and this is reflected in its logo, “Ecological printing”. The owners have been vigorously greening up their production chain since the turn of the millennium. New technology promoting this goal has broadened their options for conserving natural resources while at the same time enhancing efficiency and profitability.

Heider Druck is the printing arm of Joh. Heider Verlag, a publishing house which was established in 1889 and brought out a daily newspaper for Bergisch Gladbach and the surrounding region the following year. Despite the fact that this was sold off to the Kölnische Rundschau in 1952, among locals the name Heider is still synonymous with newspapers. Now a publishing, printing and media enterprise, Heider has long since expanded its web-based portfolio to include freesheets, trade and federation publications, magazines, supplements and telephone directories etc. It has also moved into sheetfed with brochures, magazines, books, calendars and many other commercial products. The publishing house’s media ac ...

2009 may have been the printing sector’s ‘annus horribilis’ but Alderson Print Group MD Peter Alderson remains as committed to the cause as the day he and brother Ron set out on their business odyssey fifty years ago. And, with specialist divisions dedicated to commercial web, sheetfed litho, digital printing, specialist finishing and, most recently, large format Point of Sale, the Surrey-based operation is the closest thing we have to a weather-vane for our industry. “This recession has been different to others we’ve seen,” says Peter Alderson. “High street demand has held up and that’s meant our commercial web division, which concentrates on promotional and direct mail work rather than sections, has been kept busy. And, because The City is our prime market for digital print, we’ve seen that fall from the strongest, to one of our weaker performers.” With the already considerable challenges of the sheetfed litho sector exacerbated by over capacity, diminishing demand and phoenix competitors, it is the group’s most recent venture that offers another bright prospect for the coming year. In July Alderson Point of Sale commissioned a 4-colour KBA RAPIDA 20 ...

The latest issue of KBA’s corporate magazine, Report, calls for entrepreneurial courage as a way out of the recession. “Farsighted printers and media players are making the most of the current widespread paralysis in order to reposition themselves in readiness for the upturn, whenever that may occur. In pursuit of this strategy they are developing new business models or enhancing existing ones, more often than not in conjunction with judicious investment in advanced technology. The ultimate benefits are enjoyed by all, because in the long run the supply industry can only drive innovation if the customers targeted are willing to invest,” writes KBA marketing director Klaus Schmidt on the title page.

Many of the features in the 52pp publication demonstrate that, even though the recession has not yet passed, there are still some printers out there who are willing to innovate and invest. User reports from diverse sectors and countries, and technical contributions on energy efficiency, green printing, plastic printing and large-format productivity, provide an insight into the broader industry picture and offer printshop managers some useful ideas for implem ...

“It may be commonplace to claim that it is unimportant where you work, but it is not unimportant to us. We have our roots in a region which, for many, is a holiday paradise. Innsbruck, Austria offers everything we need at the quality we need it. Our central location, where major European traffic corridors and different cultures intersect, offers a fantastic combination of urban life with a calming closeness to nature.”

Browsing the Internet presence of Austrian printer Alpina Druck is as refreshing as touring their physical location. There are no empty promises demanding that you “Test our guarantee” and no ramblings about ultramodern machinery, on-time delivery, or high print quality. “After all, the customer should be able to expect these things,” explains Alpina's assistant director Mario Moser. “You need more substantial ideas. If you want to offer your customers added value, you must first have all of your own processes under control.” ...

The PrintCity Alliance completed a successful first Graphic Industry Supply Chain Workshop on the subject Carbon Footprint & Energy Efficiency during February 2010 in Munich.   The keynote speaker was Gary Marshall from the UK printing group Polestar, an early adopter of a proactive carbon and energy reduction programme. “We must look at the whole picture and remember that some of our environmental efforts are often still ‘work-in-progress’. Polestar seeks solutions to manage its Carbon Footprint creatively and economically, in tandem with our customers and suppliers. The future needs more joined-up thinking that crosses over the full industry supply chain.”   Over 30 attendees from several countries participated and presentations were made by PrintCity members UPM, Sun Chemical, manroland plus other guest speakers including: Benoit Moreau, Environment Manager for the French Printers Association, James Patterson from Environ and Laurel Brunner of Verdigris / Digital Dots. ...

Early this month Henan Daily Newspaper Group in Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s most densely populated province, Henan, reaffirmed its successful association with Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) by signing a contract for a third Comet press line. The order follows the installation in 2001 and 2005 of two Comet press lines with a total of eight towers and four folders.

Henan Daily plant manager Chen Guo Sheng says: “The two single-width Comet presses demonstrate their high output, reliability and superior print quality day in and day out. Thanks to their flexibility and ease of operation, we can switch from one of our many in-house and contract titles to another in a minimum of time.” Henan Daily general manager Zhang Jian is equally impressed. “We have always been 100 per cent satisfied with the support KBA has provided, from the initial concept right through to after-sales service. So it’s a pleasure to be working with KBA and the Comet once again as part of our expansion project.” ...