Presstek Inc.

As the demand for four-color work increased at Madison Gas and Electric’s in-plant, so did the Wisconsin shop’s need to upgrade its platemaking process. “We had two-color Ryobis, but about 80 percent of our work was four color,” reports Graphics Services Supervisor Chris Hrubes. He targeted chemistry-free CTP as the ideal solution for the facility’s workload requirements and environmental standards.

Though attendance was noticeably down on the first three days of Print 09, by Monday morning it was starting to look like a trade show again. Booths were packed with attendees, and vendors were busy giving demos, trying to capitalize of the sudden resurgence of interest after a lackluster weekend. IPG spent four days at the show, and the first three...let's just say we never had any problem finding someone to talk with at vendors' booths. Perhaps the beautiful Chicago weekend weather lured many to delay their arrival. (Or maybe it was the questionable wisdom of starting a trade show on a Friday.) Whatever the reason, though, by Monday morning, attendees arrived with a vengeance, including scores of in-plants managers.

An inactive press is an unproductive press. Unfortunately, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington’s in-plant learned that costly lesson with its two-color Shinohara. The university’s Printing Services department had an imagesetter to make poly plates for its ABDick presses, but got away from metal platemaking several years ago, recalls Production Manager Steven Barrett. In order to use the Shinohara press, the shop had to rely on an outside vendor to secure metal plates, which Barrett didn’t find to be a dependable option.

Digital printing equipment specialist Presstek is reducing its workforce by 10 percent following a second quarter that saw the company lose more than $40 million. The cuts will result in the loss of about 60 jobs. According to the Connecticut Post, this move and other initiatives will save the company $10 million per year.

Presstek has prevailed in a critical ruling in the company’s patent infringement case against Israel-based VIM Technologies, Ltd.

In an opinion made public on Wednesday, Administrative Law Judge E. James Gildea ruled that Presstek’s patents for its printing plate technology are valid and enforceable and that VIM has been infringing Presstek’s rights by importing and selling VIM’s plates in the United States.

The ReproGraphic Services department at San Diego State University prides itself as being a small but versatile group. To prove it can be even more nimble and flexible, the in-plant recently updated its bindery and rearranged the pressroom for a more efficient workflow. In late June, the shop installed a Morgana DigiFold 5000P folder and a Duplo System 5000 bookletmaker with two eight-bin towers. The Morgana folder joins an older Baum folder, while the Duplo replaces a 16-year-old Horizon booklet-maker. Since the new machines are much quieter than their predecessors, the in-plant was able to reduce noise levels. 

Three university in-plants in the UK have installed Presstek digital offset presses in recent months. In addition to Glasgow Caledonian University, which (as reported in IPG’s May issue) has installed a landscape-format Presstek 52DI, Aberystwyth University and the University of Edinburgh have each installed Presstek 34DI digital offset presses. In fact, this is the second 34DI for Aberystwyth, which is located in Wales.

Visitors trying to find their way around New York’s vast Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) usually end up consulting one of the floor plans available at the admission desks. Unfortunately for the MET’s in-plant, tucked away behind the gift shop, that job had long been out of reach. “We just could not do the job economically on our two-color Komori,” says Richard Peterson, manager of Office Services for the 139-year-old museum. That all changed recently when the 11-employee Printing Services department added a new four-color Ryobi 784 EP perfecting press. Now able to print two-over-two on a larger sheet size, the in-plant has brought those floor plans in-house and is slowly adding other work that previously had to be outsourced.

Roughly 50 trade journalists, consultants and analysts converged on Chicago's Sheraton Hotel & Towers Tuesday and Wednesday for PRINT 09 Media Days, a preshow glimpse of the technologies that will be on exhibit at PRINT 09. The Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC), which manages the event, was among 14 exhibitors that provided presentations in advance of PRINT 09, which kicks off Sept. 11 at McCormick Place and runs through Sept. 16.

Before installing a Glunz & Jensen PlateWriter 2000 in April, Gordon Rivera admits he didn’t know much about Glunz & Jensen. Then the coordinator of Campus Graphics at Allan Hancock College picked up his favorite graphic arts magazine, and everything changed. “I saw the Glunz & Jensen ad in your magazine,” he says, referring to IPG, “so I gave them a call...and I ended up buying it.”